辛苦 Such a Hard Time
說畢，不多時，那獃子走將來。又怕忘了那謊，低著頭，口裡溫習。被行者喝了一聲道：「獃子，念甚麼哩？」八戒掀起耳朵來看看道：「我到了地頭了？」那獃子上前跪倒。長老攙起道：「徒弟，辛苦啊。」八戒道：「正是。走路的人，爬山的人，第一辛苦了。」说毕，不多时，那呆子走将来。又怕忘了那谎，低着头，口里温习。被行者喝了一声道：「呆子，念甚么哩？」八戒掀起耳朵来看看道：「我到了地头了？」那呆子上前跪倒。长老搀起道：「徒弟，辛苦啊。」八戒道：「正是。走路的人，爬山的人，第一辛苦了。」
逐句解 Line by line
When he had done speaking, before long the blockhead came walking up.
說畢, shuō bì, "having finished speaking." 那 is nà; 走將來 takes 將 as jiāng. The timing is theatrical: Pilgrim finishes his account and the defendant walks on.
Afraid he might forget his lie, he kept his head down, rehearsing it under his breath.
溫習, wēn xí, "to go over again, to revise" — still the ordinary word for cramming before an examination, which is precisely what he is doing. 那謊 takes 那 as nà; 低著頭 takes 著 as zhe. Head down, muttering his lines, all the way in.
Pilgrim gave him a shout: "Blockhead — what are you muttering?"
喝了一聲, hè le yì shēng, "gave a shout" — 喝 read hè, to bark at someone, not the hē of drinking. 甚麼 takes 甚 as shén. Pilgrim asks him, straight-faced, what he is muttering.
Eight Rules lifted his ears to look, and said: "Have I reached the place already?"
掀起耳朵, xiān qǐ ěr duo, "to lift the ears up" — a pig's ears hang over its eyes, so Eight Rules has to raise them to see anything, a piece of physical comedy the novel uses whenever he is caught off guard. 地頭 is "the place you were headed for."
The blockhead went forward and knelt down.
跪倒, guì dǎo, "to drop to the knees" — 倒 read dǎo. 那 is nà.
The Elder raised him up: "Disciple, you've had a hard time of it."
攙起, chān qǐ, "to help up by the arm." 長 is zhǎng. The master, who believes every word of what has not yet been said, commiserates first.
Said Eight Rules: "Just so. Of all men, the road-walker and the mountain-climber have the hardest time."
第一辛苦, dì yī xīn kǔ, "hardest of all"; 爬山, "to climb a mountain." He accepts the sympathy and then upgrades it, unprompted, into a general theory about who suffers most in this world. The man has been asleep in a field.
The machinery springs. Eight Rules comes up the road with his head down, revising his lines under his breath like a candidate outside the examination hall — and is greeted by Pilgrim, all innocence, asking what he is muttering. His reply, a vague "have I got there already?", shows how completely he has failed to suspect anything.
He then kneels, is helped up, and is told he has had a hard time of it. Instead of getting on with the report, he takes the sympathy and expands it into a proposition about the human condition: of all people in the world, the road-walker and the mountain-climber suffer most. The self-pity is entirely in character, and the placement is merciless, since the hardship in question consisted of a nap in a patch of red grass, and everyone present except the master already knows it.