Canonical Classics ← 第三十二回
第三十二回
píngdǐngshāngōngcáochuánxìn
liánhuādòngféngzāi

On Level-Top Mountain the Merit-Officer Brings Word · In the Lotus-Flower Cave the Wood-Mother Meets Disaster

兩件事
模式 Mode Read Study
拼音 Pinyin Off
字體 Script
原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

兩件事 Two Conditions

xíngzhězhèchángniǔniēzhǐdòuchūzhǎnglǎozhèhuàláiwènlelèidào:「shīaruòyàoguòdeshānshìzhūjièdeliǎngjiànshìercáiyǒusānfēndejiǎruòyándeshǒubànfēnerxiǎngguò。」jièdào:「shīxiōngjiùsànhuǒyàopān。」zhǎnglǎodào:「qiěwènshīxiōngkànjiàozuòshénme?」dāizizhēnduìxíngzhěshuōdào:「gejiàozuòshénshì?」xíngzhědào:「jiànshìkànshīèrjiànshìxúnshān。」xíngzhězhèchángniǔniēzhǐdòuchūzhǎnglǎozhèhuàláiwènlelèidào:「shīaruòyàoguòdeshānshìzhūjièdeliǎngjiànshìercáiyǒusānfēndejiǎruòyándeshǒubànfēnerxiǎngguò。」jièdào:「shīxiōngjiùsànhuǒyàopān。」zhǎnglǎodào:「qiěwènshīxiōngkànjiàozuòshénme?」dāizizhēnduìxíngzhěshuōdào:「gejiàozuòshénshì?」xíngzhědào:「jiànshìkànshīèrjiànshìxúnshān。」


逐句解 Line by line

xíngzhězhèchángniǔniēzhǐdòuchūzhǎnglǎozhèhuàlái xíngzhězhèchángniǔniēzhǐdòuchūzhǎnglǎozhèhuàlái

That Pilgrim, with this whole show of coyness, had drawn out just these few words from the Elder.

The narrator names the performance for what it was. 扭捏, niǔ niē, "wriggling and pinching" — putting it on, being coy. is ; is zhǎng. The whole business of the tears, says the narrator, was worked up to squeeze out these few sentences.

wènlelèidào:「shīaruòyàoguòdeshānshìzhūjièdeliǎngjiànshìercáiyǒusānfēndejiǎruòyándeshǒubànfēnerxiǎngguò。」 wènlelèidào:「shīaruòyàoguòdeshānshìzhūjièdeliǎngjiànshìercáiyǒusānfēndejiǎruòyándeshǒubànfēnerxiǎngguò。」

He wiped away his tears and said: "Master, if we are to get past this mountain, then Zhu Eight Rules must comply with me in two matters — only then have we three parts' chance of getting through; but if he will not heed my words, nor take my place at need, there is not half a chance of passing at all."

Terms are announced. , wèn, is to blot or dab, so he wipes the tears away. Four in one breath — 過得, 依得, 去得, 替不得 — all the light de of ability, the pattern that gives modern Chinese its can-and-cannot forms; the of 事兒 and 分兒 is the light er. 三分 against 半分, three parts of a chance against not half of one, is Pilgrim quoting odds like a bookmaker.

jièdào:「shīxiōngjiùsànhuǒyàopān。」 jièdào:「shīxiōngjiùsànhuǒyàopān。」

Said Eight Rules: "Elder Brother, if we're not going, then let's break up the fire. Don't drag me into it."

Eight Rules smells it at once. , pān, "to drag someone in," the word for naming an accomplice; 散火, "to break up the fire," to disband. He would genuinely rather the mission ended than be volunteered.

zhǎnglǎodào:「qiěwènshīxiōngkànjiàozuòshénme?」 zhǎnglǎodào:「qiěwènshīxiōngkànjiàozuòshénme?」

Said the Elder: "Disciple, just ask your elder brother, and see what he would have you do."

師兄, shī xiōng, "elder brother in the school" — the standing term for a fellow disciple senior to you, still used in Chinese martial arts and academic labs alike. is zhǎng; is shén.

dāizizhēnduìxíngzhěshuōdào:「gejiàozuòshénshì?」 dāizizhēnduìxíngzhěshuōdào:「gejiàozuòshénshì?」

The blockhead did indeed say to Pilgrim: "Brother, what would you have me do?"

獃子, dāi zi, "the blockhead" — the narrator's pet name for Eight Rules throughout the novel, affectionate and merciless at once. 甚事 takes as shén. The 真個 is doing quiet work: he really did ask, walking into it exactly as told.

xíngzhědào:「jiànshìkànshīèrjiànshìxúnshān。」 xíngzhědào:「jiànshìkànshīèrjiànshìxúnshān。」

Said Pilgrim: "The first is to mind the Master; the second is to go patrol the mountain."

The two options. 巡山, xún shān, "to patrol the mountain" — a piece of vocabulary that is about to get a great deal of use, from both sides. 看師父 is "to mind the Master."


總評 Commentary

The narrator drops the curtain and shows the machinery: that whole show of coyness was worked up to extract these few sentences. Pilgrim wipes his eyes and announces terms — Eight Rules must agree to two things or the crossing has no chance. He has recast a piece of manipulation as sober operational planning, and the master, now fully invested, accepts the framing without a blink.

Eight Rules, who has better instincts than anyone credits him with, immediately tries to bolt: if we are not going, let us disband, and do not drag me into it. But the master has already ordered him to hear the terms. And the terms are a choice — mind the master, or patrol the mountain — which is the neatest part of the trap. There is no third option, and both options are work. The scene runs on the novel's most reliable comic pairing: the monkey's cunning against the pig's reluctance, with the master serving as the unwitting instrument.