御酒送行 The Imperial Wine
國王聞得此言，十分歡喜心信。即命九嬪妃子：「將朕親用的御酒整瓶取來，權與長老送行。」遂滿斟一爵，奉與八戒道：「長老，這杯酒，聊引奉勞之意。待捉得妖魔，救回小女，自有大宴相酬，千金重謝。」那獃子接杯在手，人物雖是粗魯，行事倒有斯文，對三藏唱個大喏道：「師父，這酒本該從你飲起；但君王賜我，不敢違背，讓老豬先吃了，助助興頭，好捉妖怪。」那獃子一飲而乾，才斟一爵，遞與師父。三藏道：「我不飲酒，你兄弟們吃罷。」沙僧近前接了。八戒就足下生雲，直上空裡。國王見了道：「豬長老又會騰雲？」国王闻得此言，十分欢喜心信。即命九嫔妃子：「将朕亲用的御酒整瓶取来，权与长老送行。」遂满斟一爵，奉与八戒道：「长老，这杯酒，聊引奉劳之意。待捉得妖魔，救回小女，自有大宴相酬，千金重谢。」那呆子接杯在手，人物虽是粗鲁，行事倒有斯文，对三藏唱个大喏道：「师父，这酒本该从你饮起；但君王赐我，不敢违背，让老猪先吃了，助助兴头，好捉妖怪。」那呆子一饮而干，才斟一爵，递与师父。三藏道：「我不饮酒，你兄弟们吃罢。」沙僧近前接了。八戒就足下生云，直上空里。国王见了道：「猪长老又会腾云？」
逐句解 Line by line
Hearing these words, the king was greatly pleased and convinced at heart. He at once commanded the nine concubines and consorts: 'Bring a whole flask of the imperial wine that I myself use, that I may, for the moment, send the elder off with it.'
The king has gone from mocking the rake to opening his private cellar in the space of one speech. 御酒 is the imperial wine, and the phrase 朕親用的, "that I myself use," makes the point: this is the bottle he keeps back for himself. 聞得 (得 = de) is "having heard"; 十分 (分 = fēn) 歡喜 is "greatly delighted"; 九嬪妃子 (子 = zi) are the nine concubines and consorts; 將 (jiāng) carries the wine in, and 送行 (行 = xíng) is to see someone off.
So he filled a goblet to the brim and offered it to Eight Rules, saying, 'Elder, this cup of wine is but to convey my wish to reward your toil. When you have taken the demon and brought my little daughter back, there shall of course be a great feast to requite you, and a thousand gold in weighty thanks.'
滿斟一爵 is to fill a goblet to the brim; 聊引奉勞之意 is "merely to convey my wish to reward your trouble," the polite formula for a small gift preceding a large favour. 相酬 (相 = xiāng) is to requite; 千金重謝 (重 = zhòng) is "a thousand gold in weighty thanks." The same lavishness he aimed at Tripitaka, now redirected at the pig.
The blockhead took the cup in hand — coarse of person though he was, in this he showed a certain refinement — and gave Tripitaka a great salute, saying, 'Master, this wine ought by right to have been drunk beginning with you; but since the sovereign has bestowed it upon me, I dare not disobey. Let Old Zhu drink first, to raise his spirits a little, the better to catch the demon.'
The narrator pauses to note something unexpected, and the aside is one of the warmest sentences in the chapter: 人物雖是粗魯，行事 (行 = xíng) 倒 (倒 = dào, "yet, rather") 有斯文 — coarse of person, but there is some refinement in how he goes about things. He gives Tripitaka a 唱個大喏 (喏 = rě), the same bow-with-a-greeting the court found so inadequate, offers him the cup first as precedence requires, and only then finds an unanswerable reason to drink it himself. 助助興頭 (興 = xìng) is "to get the spirits up." The courtesy is real; so is the eagerness underneath it.
The blockhead drained the cup at a draught, then filled another goblet and passed it to his master. Said Tripitaka, 'I do not drink wine; let you brothers have it.' Sha Monk came forward and took it.
一飲而乾 (乾 = gān) is to drain it dry at one go. 我不飲酒 — Tripitaka does not drink, and the refusal costs him nothing and the scene nothing, which is the joke. The cup travels on down the seniority order to Sha Monk.
Eight Rules then made a cloud rise beneath his feet and mounted straight into the sky. Seeing this, the king said, 'So Elder Zhu can ride the clouds as well?'
足下生雲 is "a cloud grew under his feet"; 直上空裡 is straight up into the empty air. And the king, who has now watched this creature terrify his court, grow to the height of a building, and take off vertically, is still asking questions in the tone of a man at a conjuring show: 豬長老 (長 = zhǎng) 又會騰雲 — "Elder Zhu can ride clouds as well?"
The wine-cup gives the narrator an opening for one of the sly, affectionate touches this novel reserves for Eight Rules. Coarse as he is, he takes the cup with unexpected grace, pausing to offer it to his master first as decorum requires, and only then pleading the sovereign's command as warrant for drinking it himself. Coarse of person, the narrator observes, yet with some refinement in conduct. The small courtesy is genuine, and so is the eagerness under it — to drink first, and to get his spirits up for the fight. It rounds the character out: greedy and vain, but not without a rough good nature.
Around this the king's confidence swells into extravagance, his earlier scorn entirely forgotten — the wine he keeps for himself, a great feast promised, a thousand gold in thanks, all the inducements he had held out to Tripitaka now heaped on the boar-monk instead. And when Eight Rules rises on his cloud and goes straight up, the king's fresh astonishment measures once more the distance between a mortal court and the celestial powers it has just, rather unpromisingly, enlisted.