跪請老怪 Kneeling to Invite the Old Fiend
到此際也沒及奈何，撞將進去，朝上跪下道：「奶奶磕頭。」那怪道：「我兒，起來。」行者暗道：「好好好，叫得結實！」老怪問道：「你是那裡來的？」行者道：「平頂山蓮花洞，蒙二位大王有令，差來請奶奶去吃唐僧肉，教帶幌金繩，要拿孫行者哩。」老怪大喜道：「好孝順的兒子。」就去叫擡出轎來。行者道：「我的兒啊，妖精也擡轎？」到此际也没及奈何，撞将进去，朝上跪下道：「奶奶磕头。」那怪道：「我儿，起来。」行者暗道：「好好好，叫得结实！」老怪问道：「你是那里来的？」行者道：「平顶山莲花洞，蒙二位大王有令，差来请奶奶去吃唐僧肉，教带幌金绳，要拿孙行者哩。」老怪大喜道：「好孝顺的儿子。」就去叫抬出轿来。行者道：「我的儿啊，妖精也抬轿？」
逐句解 Line by line
At this pass there was no help for it: he barged in, knelt facing upward, and said: “Grandma, I kowtow.” The fiend said: “My child, get up.” Pilgrim said to himself: “Good, good, good — how solidly she calls it out!” The old fiend asked: “Where are you from?”
撞將進去 zhuàng jiāng jìn qù, barged in, with 將 lending the movement its shove. 我兒 wǒ ér, my child — 兒 read ér, offspring, and it is the warmth of it that undoes him. 叫得結實 jiào de jié shí, calls it out solidly, is the how-well de; and the crone's 那裡來 nǎ lǐ lái, from where, is the questioning nǎ.
Pilgrim said: “From Lotus-Flower Cave on Level-Top Mountain; by order of the two Great Kings I'm sent to invite Grandma to go and eat the Tang Monk's flesh, and to have you bring the gold-glinting cord, for we mean to catch Sun the Pilgrim.”
蒙二位大王有令 méng èr wèi dà wáng yǒu lìng, by grace of the two Great Kings' command — the deferential opening a real retainer would use. 教帶幌金繩 jiào dài huǎng jīn shéng, have you bring the gold-glinting cord, 教 as jiào; 差來請 chāi lái qǐng, sent to invite, 差 as chāi. He delivers the message word-perfect, which is why it works.
The old fiend was overjoyed: “What a dutiful son!” and at once called for the sedan-chair to be carried out. Pilgrim said: “Child that I am — do demons ride sedans too?”
Here is the chapter's best running joke, and it starts now. 好孝順的兒子 hǎo xiào shùn de ér zi — what a dutiful son — is the demon-mother beaming at her own assassin, 兒 read ér. Wukong's muttered 我的兒啊 wǒ de ér a throws it straight back: in Chinese "my child" is what an elder says to a junior, so under his breath he is promoting himself to her senior even as he kneels. He will keep score this way for the rest of the chapter.
The kowtow he dreaded in the last passage is performed here without a wasted word — 到此際也沒及奈何, at this pass there was no help for it — and the comedy turns at once on the demon-mother's fond credulity. Her "my child, get up" is so warmly maternal that Wukong, kneeling under false colours, cannot help admiring how solidly she says it: the trickster savouring the very intimacy he is counterfeiting.
The invitation is delivered verbatim and the pretext lands — the feast on the Tang Monk, the request for the cord, Sun the Pilgrim named as the quarry. The old fiend's delight, 好孝順的兒子, is the perfect mark's response, mistaking her murderer for a dutiful retainer. Wukong's aside keeps the reader in on the joke: every filial gesture is a jibe, and the demon-mother is being escorted, doting, toward her death.