有對問的話 A Matter to Be Tested
怎知行者在耳朵後，一一聽得明白。行者見他回來，即騰兩翅預先回去，現原身，見了師父。師父道：「悟空，你來了，悟能怎不見回？」行者笑道：「他在那裡編謊哩，就待來也。」長老道：「他兩個耳朵蓋著眼，愚拙之人也，他會編甚麼謊？又是你捏合甚麼鬼話賴他哩。」行者道：「師父，你只是這等護短。這是有對問的話。」把他那鑽在草裡睡覺，被啄木蟲叮醒，朝石頭唱喏，編造甚麼石頭山、石頭洞、鐵葉門、有妖精的話，預先說了。怎知行者在耳朵后，一一听得明白。行者见他回来，即腾两翅预先回去，现原身，见了师父。师父道：「悟空，你来了，悟能怎不见回？」行者笑道：「他在那里编谎哩，就待来也。」长老道：「他两个耳朵盖着眼，愚拙之人也，他会编甚么谎？又是你捏合甚么鬼话赖他哩。」行者道：「师父，你只是这等护短。这是有对问的话。」把他那钻在草里睡觉，被啄木虫叮醒，朝石头唱喏，编造甚么石头山、石头洞、铁叶门、有妖精的话，预先说了。
逐句解 Line by line
Little did he know that Pilgrim, behind his ear, had heard it all, point by point, clear as day.
一一, yī yī, "one by one, item by item"; 聽得明白 takes 得 as de. Every point of it, from a range of about a centimetre.
Seeing him start back, Pilgrim beat his two wings and hurried on ahead, resumed his true form, and came before the Master.
騰兩翅, téng liǎng chì, "to beat both wings"; 現原身, "to show the original body," the standard formula for dropping a transformation. He gets there first, which is the whole plan.
Said the Master: "Wukong, you've come — how is it Wuneng is not yet back?"
悟能, Wù néng, "Awakened to Ability," is Eight Rules's religious name, given by Guanyin — the parallel to Pilgrim's 悟空, "Awakened to Emptiness." The master uses the dharma-names; everyone else uses the nicknames. 了 in 你來了 marks the action as done — le.
Pilgrim laughed: "He's over there cooking up his lies — he'll be along presently."
編謊, biān huǎng, "to weave a lie" — the same 編 as in weaving a basket or editing a book. Here 那裡 is pointing at a place, so 那 is nà, "over there."
Said the Elder: "With his two ears drooping over his eyes, he's a dull, clumsy fellow — what lies could he invent? Here you are again, patching together some nonsense to lay against him."
The master defends him, and the defence is an insult. 愚拙, yú zhuō, "dim and clumsy." His ears hang over his eyes, he is too stupid to invent anything, and you are making it up to get him into trouble. 蓋著 takes 著 as zhe; 甚麼謊 and 甚麼鬼話 both take 甚 as shén; 長 is zhǎng.
Said Pilgrim: "Master, you do nothing but shield him so. This is a matter that can be put to the test."
護短, hù duǎn, "to cover for someone's faults" — the phrase Pilgrim used to himself several passages back, now said out loud to the master's face. 對問, "to put to the question, to test by cross-examination," a term from the courtroom.
And he told in advance the whole of it — how the pig had burrowed into the grass to sleep, been pecked awake by a woodpecker, bowed to the rocks, and made up his tale of a Stone Mountain, a Stone Cave, an iron-plated gate, and fiends within.
And he lays the whole thing out before the witness arrives. 睡覺 takes 覺 as jiào; 那 is nà; 甚麼 takes 甚 as shén. Grass, woodpecker, rocks, Stone Mountain, Stone Cave, iron gate — the entire brief, filed in advance of the testimony.
Pilgrim flies ahead, drops the disguise, and gets to the master first — and the exchange that follows is a small study in how thoroughly the Elder misjudges his disciples. Told that Eight Rules is off inventing lies, he defends the pig on the grounds that he is far too dim to invent anything, and accuses Pilgrim of fabricating slander. It is a defence that manages to insult its beneficiary while entirely misreading him, since Eight Rules has just demonstrated a rather sophisticated grasp of what a plausible lie requires.
Pilgrim's response — you do nothing but cover for him, and this can be put to the test — sets the trap in the open. By reciting the fabrication point by point before the witness arrives, he guarantees the outcome: whatever Eight Rules says next will convict him, because it has already been read into the record. The comedy of the next three passages is settled before a word of it is spoken.