辭王西去 Farewell, and Westward
行者笑道：「莫說，莫說，但不念那話兒，足感愛厚之情也。」國王聞此言，又勸謝了他四眾。整治素筵，大開東閣。他師徒受了皇恩，辭王西去。國王又率多官遠送。這正是：行者笑道：「莫说，莫说，但不念那话儿，足感爱厚之情也。」国王闻此言，又劝谢了他四众。整治素筵，大开东阁。他师徒受了皇恩，辞王西去。国王又率多官远送。这正是：
畢竟不知此後又有甚事，幾時得到西天，且聽下回分解。毕竟不知此后又有甚事，几时得到西天，且听下回分解。
逐句解 Line by line
Pilgrim said with a laugh, “Say no more, say no more — only do not recite that spell of yours, and I shall feel your kind regard the more.”
那話兒 (nà huà’r), “that thing” — the Tight-Fillet Spell; 那 read nà, 兒 the suffix, read er. 愛厚之情 (ài hòu zhī qíng), kindly and generous regard.
The king, hearing this, again pressed his thanks upon the four of them.
四眾 (sì zhòng), the four — master and three disciples. 勸謝 (quàn xiè), to press one’s thanks.
He set out a vegetarian feast and threw wide the eastern pavilion.
素筵 (sù yán), a meatless feast, fit for monks. 東閣 (dōng gé), the eastern hall or pavilion, opened for a banquet.
Master and disciples received the royal bounty, took their leave of the king, and departed westward.
皇恩 (huáng ēn), royal grace, the king’s bounty. 辭王西去 (cí wáng xī qù), to take leave of the king and go west.
The king, with his many officers, escorted them far upon their way.
率多官 (shuài duō guān), leading his many officials; 率 read shuài. 遠送 (yuǎn sòng), to see off a long way.
And this is indeed the case:
這正是 (zhè zhèng shì), “this is just the case” — the storyteller’s formula introducing the closing couplet.
The king turns back to his jewelled hall to settle his realm; / the monk goes on to the Thunderclap to worship the Buddha-patriarch.
雷音 (Léiyīn), the Thunderclap Monastery, the Buddha’s abode in the Western Heaven, the pilgrimage’s goal. 參佛祖 (cān Fózǔ), to worship the Buddha-patriarch; 參 read cān, 佛 read fó.
In the end there is no knowing what further matters lay ahead, nor when they would reach the Western Heaven — so listen to the next chapter’s telling.
畢竟 (bìjìng), in the end, after all. 得到西天 (dé dào Xī Tiān), to reach the Western Heaven; 得 read dé. 且聽下回分解 (qiě tīng xià huí fēnjiě), “wait and hear the next chapter expound it” — the storyteller’s closing formula. 甚 read shén.
The chapter ends in the settled, ceremonious manner the novel reserves for its closings: the king’s renewed thanks, the vegetarian feast, the farewell, and the escort upon the road restore the pilgrimage to its onward course after the long entanglement at Baoxiang. Wukong’s parting jest — that he asks only to be spared the Tight-Fillet Spell — recalls the standing comedy of his subjection to Tripitaka even at the moment of full reconciliation, a reminder that his return to the band is a return to its discipline.
The closing couplet distils the chapter’s two destinies into a single antithesis: the king restored to his hall and his realm, the monk set once more toward the Thunderclap and the Buddha. The parallel measures the distance between worldly rule and the religious quest, and refers the whole episode back to the pilgrimage’s sacred end. The formulaic close, deferring the sequel to “the next chapter’s telling,” preserves the oral storyteller’s cadence that the vernacular novel never wholly abandons, and seals the thirty-first chapter with the promise of the road still to come.