第三十八回 · 枕邊冷暖 Warmth and Cold at the Pillow — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition 含詞賦 With rhapsody

枕邊冷暖 Warmth and Cold at the Pillow

娘niáng娘niáng見jiàn說shuō，魂hún飄piāo魄pò散sàn，急jí下xià亭tíng抱bào起qǐ，緊jǐn摟lǒu在zài懷huái，眼yǎn中zhōng滴dī淚lèi道dào：「孩hái兒ér，我wǒ與yǔ你nǐ久jiǔ不bù相xiāng見jiàn，怎zěn麼me今jīn日rì來lái宮gōng問wèn此cǐ？」太tài子zǐ發fā怒nù道dào：「母mǔ親qīn有yǒu話huà早zǎo說shuō；不bù說shuō時shí，且qiě誤wù了le大dà事shì。」娘niáng娘niáng才cái喝hē退tuì左zuǒ右yòu，淚lèi眼yǎn低dī聲shēng道dào：「這zhè樁zhuāng事shì，孩hái兒ér不bú問wèn，我wǒ到dào九jiǔ泉quán之zhī下xià，也yě不bù得dé明míng白bái。既jì問wèn時shí，聽tīng我wǒ說shuō：娘niáng娘niáng见jiàn说shuō，魂hún飘piāo魄pò散sàn，急jí下xià亭tíng抱bào起qǐ，紧jǐn搂lǒu在zài怀huái，眼yǎn中zhōng滴dī泪lèi道dào：「孩hái儿ér，我wǒ与yǔ你nǐ久jiǔ不bù相xiāng见jiàn，怎zěn么me今jīn日rì来lái宫gōng问wèn此cǐ？」太tài子zǐ发fā怒nù道dào：「母mǔ亲qīn有yǒu话huà早zǎo说shuō；不bù说shuō时shí，且qiě误wù了le大dà事shì。」娘niáng娘niáng才cái喝hē退tuì左zuǒ右yòu，泪lèi眼yǎn低dī声shēng道dào：「这zhè桩zhuāng事shì，孩hái儿ér不bú问wèn，我wǒ到dào九jiǔ泉quán之zhī下xià，也yě不bù得dé明míng白bái。既jì问wèn时shí，听tīng我wǒ说shuō：

三sān載zǎi之zhī前qián溫wēn又yòu暖nuǎn，三sān年nián之zhī後hòu冷lěng如rú冰bīng。三sān载zǎi之zhī前qián温wēn又yòu暖nuǎn，三sān年nián之zhī后hòu冷lěng如rú冰bīng。

枕zhěn邊biān切qiè切qiè將jiāng言yán問wèn，他tā說shuō老lǎo邁mài身shēn衰shuāi事shì不bù興xīng。枕zhěn边biān切qiè切qiè将jiāng言yán问wèn，他tā说shuō老lǎo迈mài身shēn衰shuāi事shì不bù兴xīng。

逐句解 Line by line

娘niáng娘niáng見jiàn說shuō，魂hún飄piāo魄pò散sàn，急jí下xià亭tíng抱bào起qǐ，緊jǐn摟lǒu在zài懷huái，眼yǎn中zhōng滴dī淚lèi道dào：「孩hái兒ér，我wǒ與yǔ你nǐ久jiǔ不bù相xiāng見jiàn，怎zěn麼me今jīn日rì來lái宮gōng問wèn此cǐ？」娘niáng娘niáng见jiàn说shuō，魂hún飘piāo魄pò散sàn，急jí下xià亭tíng抱bào起qǐ，紧jǐn搂lǒu在zài怀huái，眼yǎn中zhōng滴dī泪lèi道dào：「孩hái儿ér，我wǒ与yǔ你nǐ久jiǔ不bù相xiāng见jiàn，怎zěn么me今jīn日rì来lái宫gōng问wèn此cǐ？」

At these words the lady's soul took flight and her spirit scattered; she hastened down from the pavilion, caught him up, and clasped him tight to her breast, tears falling from her eyes as she said: 'My child, you and I have long been kept apart — why do you come to the palace today to ask me this?'

魂飄魄散: 'the hun-soul flies off, the po-soul scatters' — a set phrase for being stunned. 眼中: 中 = zhōng; 相見: 相 = xiāng; 孩兒: 兒 = ér.

太tài子zǐ發fā怒nù道dào：「母mǔ親qīn有yǒu話huà早zǎo說shuō；太tài子zǐ发fā怒nù道dào：「母mǔ亲qīn有yǒu话huà早zǎo说shuō；

The prince said in a temper: 'Mother, if you have something to tell, tell it now;

發怒: to grow angry; the prince's impatience urges the disclosure. 太子: 子 = zǐ.

不bù說shuō時shí，且qiě誤wù了le大dà事shì。」不bù说shuō时shí，且qiě误wù了le大dà事shì。」

if you will not speak, you will spoil a great matter.'

誤了大事: to ruin a great undertaking — the prince invokes the higher stakes without yet naming them.

娘niáng娘niáng才cái喝hē退tuì左zuǒ右yòu，淚lèi眼yǎn低dī聲shēng道dào：「這zhè樁zhuāng事shì，孩hái兒ér不bú問wèn，我wǒ到dào九jiǔ泉quán之zhī下xià，也yě不bù得dé明míng白bái。娘niáng娘niáng才cái喝hē退tuì左zuǒ右yòu，泪lèi眼yǎn低dī声shēng道dào：「这zhè桩zhuāng事shì，孩hái儿ér不bú问wèn，我wǒ到dào九jiǔ泉quán之zhī下xià，也yě不bù得dé明míng白bái。

Only then did the lady shout her attendants away and, with tearful eyes and a low voice, say: 'This affair — had you not asked, I should have gone down to the Nine Springs without ever making it clear.

喝退左右: to bark at the attendants to withdraw, clearing the scene for a secret. 九泉之下: 'below the Nine Springs,' the world of the dead. 孩兒: 兒 = ér; 不得明白 takes 得 = dé.

既jì問wèn時shí，聽tīng我wǒ說shuō：既jì问wèn时shí，听tīng我wǒ说shuō：

But since you have asked, then hear me:'

既問時: 'since you have asked' — the queen yields, and the revelation passes into verse, the register the novel reserves for heightened feeling.

Three years ago and more, warm was he and tender; / in the three years since, cold as ice.

The couplet's parallel — 三載之前 // 三年之後, 溫又暖 // 冷如冰 — measures the marriage's estrangement in the plainest antithesis of warmth and cold. 載 (read zǎi, 'year') pairs with 年. This coldness is the demon's tell: he wears the king's face but not his love.

On the pillow, softly, I put the question to him; / he said age had come, his body was spent, and such things were past all rousing.

枕邊: 'at the pillow-side,' the intimacy of the bedchamber. 切切 = qiè qiè ('softly, earnestly,' in a low pressing voice — cf. 琵琶行小弦切切如私語), not qiē ('to cut'). 將 = jiāng (the coverb, 'to put [words to]'). 事不興 = 'the matter did not rise,' 興 read xīng (to be roused / flourish); the excuse of age and infirmity masks the impostor's incapacity. Tone-sandhi shifts 不 to bù before xīng.

總評 Commentary

The queen's shock is registered in the body — soul and spirit scattering, a headlong descent from the pavilion, the child clasped to the breast — before it can be registered in speech. The novel marks such thresholds of feeling by shifting from prose into verse, and it does so here: the disclosure comes as a rhymed couplet-pair, set off from the surrounding narration.

The revelation is startling in its intimacy. The test the prince proposed — is the conjugal love the same? — is answered with a wife's memory of the bedchamber: warmth turned to ice, and a husband who, questioned on the pillow, pleaded age and a failing body. In the logic of the novel this is decisive. A demon may usurp a throne and counterfeit a face, but he cannot reproduce the private tenderness of a marriage; the cooling is the seam where the disguise shows.

The scene also quietly humanizes the plot's machinery. The drowned king's cause has been argued in dreams and by monks; here it is felt by the woman who shared his bed, whose three years of unexplained estrangement acquire a sudden, grievous meaning. The chapter's abstractions — the crooked and the upright — take on the texture of a real marriage gone strange.