Ah!

噫, yī, is an exclamation of feeling — the storyteller drawing breath before the good part. It marks the turn to Sha Seng's joy, and the same syllable will do the same office for the demon much later, to quite different effect.

The moment Sha Seng heard those three words, "Sun Wukong," it was as though pure cream were poured upon his crown and sweet dew steeped his heart; his whole face was gladness, his whole breast a springtime; it was not as if he had merely heard that someone had come, but as though he had chanced upon a piece of gold and jade.

The relief comes out in a cascade of borrowed images, sacred and homely by turns. 醍醐灌頂, tí hú guàn dǐng, is "clarified butter poured over the crown of the head" — a Buddhist figure for sudden illumination, and still the standard Chinese phrase for a remark that makes everything clear at a stroke. 甘露滋心, gān lù zī xīn, sweet dew steeping the heart. Then the register drops all the way to the street: it was like picking up a lump of gold and jade in the road. 拾著, shí zháo, to have chanced upon.

See him now shake his hands and brush down his robe, and come out at the door, and salute Pilgrim, saying, "Brother, you are indeed come down from Heaven itself.

捽手拂衣, zuó shǒu fú yī, to shake out the hands and brush down the robe — the gestures of a man pulling himself together after being tied up for a day. 從天而降, cóng tiān ér jiàng, to come down out of Heaven, said of an unlooked-for deliverance. Here 降 is jiàng, "descend," and not the xiáng, "subdue," that has been running through the chapter.

I beg you a thousand times — save me, do save me."

萬乞, wàn qǐ, "ten thousand entreaties" — to beg in the most earnest terms available.

Pilgrim said with a laugh, "You, Sha the shaveling — when the master chanted the Tight-Fillet Spell, were you willing to put in one word of accommodation for me?

Wukong will not take gratitude without extracting a joke first. 沙尼, Shā ní, "Sha the shaveling," is a teasing coinage. 緊箍兒咒, jǐn gū'r zhòu, is the Tight-Fillet Spell — the headband Guanyin fixed on him, which Tripitaka can tighten by chanting. 方便一聲, fāng biàn yī shēng, to put in one accommodating word. The grievance is specific: nobody ever spoke up for him.

All of you were glib enough, showing off, so keen to guard the master — how is it you are not on the road to the West, but crouching here instead? What are you about?"

弄嘴, nòng zuǐ, to be glib, to make a show with the mouth; 施展, shī zhǎn, to display one's powers; 蹲, dūn, to squat. "So keen to guard the master — why are you crouching in a cave?" is the whole taunt in one line.