逐回之辯 The Banished Disciple
那怪道：「沒有這話，沒有這話。我拿住唐僧時，止知他有兩個徒弟，叫做豬八戒、沙和尚，何曾見有人說個姓孫的？你不知是那裡來的個怪物，到此騙我。」行者道：「我不曾同他二人來，是我師父因老孫慣打妖怪，殺傷甚多，他是個慈悲好善之人，將我逐回，故不曾同他一路行走。你是不知你祖宗名姓。」那怪道：「你好不丈夫啊，既受了師父趕逐，卻有甚麼嘴臉又來見人？」那怪道：「没有这话，没有这话。我拿住唐僧时，止知他有两个徒弟，叫做猪八戒、沙和尚，何曾见有人说个姓孙的？你不知是那里来的个怪物，到此骗我。」行者道：「我不曾同他二人来，是我师父因老孙惯打妖怪，杀伤甚多，他是个慈悲好善之人，将我逐回，故不曾同他一路行走。你是不知你祖宗名姓。」那怪道：「你好不丈夫啊，既受了师父赶逐，却有甚么嘴脸又来见人？」
逐句解 Line by line
The fiend said, "There is no such thing, no such thing.
沒有這話, méi yǒu zhè huà, "there is nothing to that" — said twice, which is a man arguing with information rather than with a person.
When I seized the Tang Monk, I knew only that he had two disciples, Zhu Bajie and Sha the Monk; when did anyone ever speak of one surnamed Sun?
And his objection is entirely reasonable. 止知, zhǐ zhī, to know only; 何曾, hé céng, "when ever?" — that is, never. He captured the Tang Monk and was told there were two disciples. Nobody mentioned a Sun.
You are some monster or other, come from who knows where to cozen me here."
那裡來, nǎ lǐ lái, from where; 騙, piàn, to cheat, to cozen.
Pilgrim said, "I did not come with those two. My master, because old Sun is so given to slaying fiends and had killed and wounded a great many, being a merciful, goodness-loving man, sent me back; and so I did not journey along with them.
So Wukong has to explain, and does it with unusual candour. 慣打妖怪, guàn dǎ yāo guài, in the habit of striking down fiends; 殺傷甚多, shā shāng shèn duō, killed and wounded a great many — here 甚 means "very" and is read shèn, not the shén of "what." 好善, hào shàn, loving goodness, with 好 read hào, "to be fond of." He admits he was thrown out, and gives the honest reason.
You simply do not know your ancestor's name and surname."
名姓, míng xìng: given name and surname.
The fiend said, "What a poor sort of man you are! Having suffered your master's dismissal, what face have you to come before people again?"
The demon finds the sore spot immediately. 好不丈夫, hǎo bù zhàng fu, "what a poor sort of man" — 丈夫 in the sense of a proper, creditable man. 甚麼嘴臉, shén me zuǐ liǎn, "what face have you," which in Chinese is a question about shame, not features. Sacked, and still turning up: it is the taunt Bajie had to talk him past, coming back from an enemy.
The demon's denial rests on a fair point — he had heard only of Bajie and Sha the Monk — so Wukong is obliged to explain his absence, disclosing with unusual frankness why he was banished: his master, too merciful, sent him away for killing too many fiends. The admission, dropped into the middle of a taunting match, quietly recalls the quarrel of the previous chapter that set this whole rescue in motion.
The demon seizes on the disclosure to turn the taunt back — a banished disciple, he sneers, has no face to show — and touches the very shame Bajie had to argue past. The thrust lands on Wukong's pride, and provokes the volley of filial maxims with which, in the next passage, he justifies his return.