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Reader's edition
八戒識破
Bajie Sees Through It
卻說豬八戒吊在梁上，哈哈的笑了一聲。沙僧道：「二哥，好啊，吊出笑來也。」八戒道：「兄弟，我笑中有故。」沙僧道：「甚故？」八戒道：「我們只怕是奶奶來了，就要蒸吃。原來不是奶奶，是舊話來了。」沙僧道：「甚麼舊話？」八戒笑道：「弼馬溫來了。」沙僧道：「你怎麼認得是他？」八戒道：「彎倒腰，叫『我兒起來』，那後面就掬起猴尾巴子。我比你吊得高，所以看得明也。」沙僧道：「且不要言語，聽他說甚麼話。」八戒道：「正是，正是。」却说猪八戒吊在梁上，哈哈的笑了一声。沙僧道：「二哥，好啊，吊出笑来也。」八戒道：「兄弟，我笑中有故。」沙僧道：「甚故？」八戒道：「我们只怕是奶奶来了，就要蒸吃。原来不是奶奶，是旧话来了。」沙僧道：「甚么旧话？」八戒笑道：「弼马温来了。」沙僧道：「你怎么认得是他？」八戒道：「弯倒腰，叫『我儿起来』，那后面就掬起猴尾巴子。我比你吊得高，所以看得明也。」沙僧道：「且不要言语，听他说甚么话。」八戒道：「正是，正是。」
逐句解 Line by line
卻說豬八戒吊在梁上，哈哈的笑了一聲。沙僧道：「二哥，好啊，吊出笑來也。」八戒道：「兄弟，我笑中有故。」沙僧道：「甚故？」
却说猪八戒吊在梁上，哈哈的笑了一声。沙僧道：「二哥，好啊，吊出笑来也。」八戒道：「兄弟，我笑中有故。」沙僧道：「甚故？」
Now tell how Zhu Bajie, hanging from the beam, gave a ha-ha of laughter. Sha Monk said: “Second Brother — fine indeed, laughing while you dangle.” Bajie said: “Brother, there's a reason in my laugh.” Sha Monk said: “What reason?”
吊在梁上 diào zài liáng shàng, hanging from the beam — the captives' predicament, and Sha Monk's dry joke is that Pig has managed to laugh out of it. 笑中有故 xiào zhōng yǒu gù, there is a reason inside the laugh, with 中 read zhōng; 甚故 shén gù, what reason, the questioning shén.
八戒道：「我們只怕是奶奶來了，就要蒸吃。原來不是奶奶，是舊話來了。」沙僧道：「甚麼舊話？」八戒笑道：「弼馬溫來了。」沙僧道：「你怎麼認得是他？」
八戒道：「我们只怕是奶奶来了，就要蒸吃。原来不是奶奶，是旧话来了。」沙僧道：「甚么旧话？」八戒笑道：「弼马温来了。」沙僧道：「你怎么认得是他？」
Bajie said: “We were only afraid it was Grandma come, and we'd be steamed and eaten. But it turns out it's not Grandma at all — it's the old story come back.” Sha Monk said: “What old story?” Bajie laughed: “Bimawen has come.” Sha Monk said: “How do you know it's him?”
舊話 jiù huà, literally the old talk — Bajie's byword for Wukong, roughly "the same old story." Then the insult he cannot resist: 弼馬溫 bì mǎ wēn, Bimawen, the Keeper of Horses, which was the derisory little post Heaven fobbed Wukong off with the first time round. Bajie has been reaching for it since he joined the party, and it still stings. 怎麼認得 zěn me rèn de, how do you recognise him — the everyday de.
八戒道：「彎倒腰，叫『我兒起來』，那後面就掬起猴尾巴子。我比你吊得高，所以看得明也。」沙僧道：「且不要言語，聽他說甚麼話。」八戒道：「正是，正是。」
八戒道：「弯倒腰，叫『我儿起来』，那后面就掬起猴尾巴子。我比你吊得高，所以看得明也。」沙僧道：「且不要言语，听他说甚么话。」八戒道：「正是，正是。」
Bajie said: “When she bent at the waist and said ‘My child, get up,’ there behind her she cocked up a monkey's tail. I'm hung higher than you, so I saw it plain.” Sha Monk said: “Say nothing for now; let's hear what he says.” Bajie said: “Quite so, quite so.”
彎倒腰 wān dǎo yāo, bent double at the waist — 倒 read dǎo, to go down. And there it is: 掬起猴尾巴子 jū qǐ hóu wěi ba zi, a monkey's tail cocked up behind. 吊得高／看得明 diào de gāo / kàn de míng, hung high and therefore saw plainly, both on the how-well de — Pig's one advantage in the room is his altitude.
總評 Commentary
The scene cuts to the captives for a stroke of pure comedy. Bajie, trussed upside down from a beam, is the only member of the party to see through Wukong's disguise, and he does it by the one detail vanity forgets — a monkey's tail cocked up behind the matron's skirts. The reversal is delicious: the perpetually gulled Pig, hung higher and looking down, catches what the demon-lords bowing below could not.
Bajie's glee is characteristically self-regarding — he crows about his own sharp eye (我比你吊得高，所以看得明) while helpless on a beam — but Sha Monk supplies the restraint: say nothing, and listen. The exchange seeds a comic suspense, because Bajie now shares Wukong's secret and must be trusted not to spill it, a trust the very next passage will see him strain to breaking.