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Reader's edition
燒餅誘妖
The Baited Bearers
行了五六里遠近，他就坐在石崖上，等候那擡轎的到了，行者道：「略歇歇如何？壓得肩頭疼啊。」小怪那知甚麼訣竅，就把轎子歇下。行者在轎後，胸脯上拔下一根毫毛，變做一個大燒餅，抱著啃。轎夫道：「長官，你吃的是甚麼？」行者道：「不好說。這遠的路，來請奶奶，沒些兒賞賜，肚裡饑了，原帶來的乾糧，等我吃些兒再走。」轎夫道：「把些兒我們吃吃。」行者笑道：「來麼，都是一家人，怎麼計較？」那小妖不知好歹，圍住行者，分其乾糧。行了五六里远近，他就坐在石崖上，等候那抬轿的到了，行者道：「略歇歇如何？压得肩头疼啊。」小怪那知甚么诀窍，就把轿子歇下。行者在轿后，胸脯上拔下一根毫毛，变做一个大烧饼，抱著啃。轿夫道：「长官，你吃的是甚么？」行者道：「不好说。这远的路，来请奶奶，没些儿赏赐，肚里饥了，原带来的干粮，等我吃些儿再走。」轿夫道：「把些儿我们吃吃。」行者笑道：「来么，都是一家人，怎么计较？」那小妖不知好歹，围住行者，分其干粮。
逐句解 Line by line
行了五六里遠近，他就坐在石崖上，等候那擡轎的到了，行者道：「略歇歇如何？壓得肩頭疼啊。」小怪那知甚麼訣竅，就把轎子歇下。
行了五六里远近，他就坐在石崖上，等候那抬轿的到了，行者道：「略歇歇如何？压得肩头疼啊。」小怪那知甚么诀窍，就把轿子歇下。
When they had gone some five or six li, he sat down on a rock ledge to wait for the sedan-bearers to come up, and said: “How about a short rest? My shoulders are pressed sore.” The little fiends, knowing nothing of any trick, set the sedan down.
等候那擡轎的 (děng hòu nà tái jiào de), "waiting for the sedan-bearers" — deictic nà. 壓得肩頭疼 (yā de jiān tóu téng), "shoulders pressed sore" — complement de. 那知甚麼訣竅 (nǎ zhī shén me jué qiào), "knew nothing of any trick" — rhetorical nǎ, "how would they know?”
行者在轎後，胸脯上拔下一根毫毛，變做一個大燒餅，抱著啃。轎夫道：「長官，你吃的是甚麼？」
行者在轿后，胸脯上拔下一根毫毛，变做一个大烧饼，抱著啃。轿夫道：「长官，你吃的是甚么？」
From behind the sedan, Pilgrim plucked a hair from his chest, turned it into a large baked cake, and sat hugging it and gnawing. The bearers said: “Officer, what is it you're eating?”
大燒餅 (dà shāo bǐng), "a large baked cake," conjured from a chest-hair. 抱著啃 (bào zhe kěn), "hugging it and gnawing" — durative zhe. 長官 (zhǎng guān), "officer" — 長 read zhǎng.
行者道：「不好說。這遠的路，來請奶奶，沒些兒賞賜，肚裡饑了，原帶來的乾糧，等我吃些兒再走。」轎夫道：「把些兒我們吃吃。」行者笑道：「來麼，都是一家人，怎麼計較？」那小妖不知好歹，圍住行者，分其乾糧。
行者道：「不好说。这远的路，来请奶奶，没些儿赏赐，肚里饥了，原带来的干粮，等我吃些儿再走。」轿夫道：「把些儿我们吃吃。」行者笑道：「来么，都是一家人，怎么计较？」那小妖不知好歹，围住行者，分其干粮。
Pilgrim said: “Hard to say. It's a long road, coming to invite Grandma, with never a bit of reward; I got hungry, so here's the dry rations I brought along — let me eat a little before we go on.” The bearers said: “Give us a bit to eat too.” Pilgrim laughed: “Come on then — we're all one household; why stand on ceremony?” Those little imps, knowing no better, crowded round Pilgrim to share the rations.
沒些兒賞賜 (méi xiē er shǎng cì), "not a bit of reward" — diminutive er. 原帶來的乾糧 (yuán dài lái de gān liáng), "the dry rations brought along" — 乾 read gān, dry. 怎麼計較 (zěn me jì jiào), "why stand on ceremony?”
總評 Commentary
The ambush is a small masterpiece of misdirection. Wukong's complaint of sore shoulders is the pretext to halt; the conjured cake and the show of gnawing is the lure; and the affable “we're all one household” is the trap's jaws opening. Every gesture trades on the couriers' assumption of kinship — the same false fellowship the password bought earlier — and their ignorance is rendered twice over: 那知甚麼訣竅 and 不知好歹, they know no trick and know no better.
The scene's cruelty is masked by its geniality: the bearers are killed for crowding round a snack, undone by ordinary appetite and the trust that they share a master's table. The narrator lingers on the homely bait — dry rations, a grumble about stinginess, an invitation to share — precisely because the domesticity makes the coming violence colder. Wukong sets the table, and the imps sit down to it.