破門入園 Breaking the Gate, Entering the Garden
正行時，只見有一座三簷白簇的門樓，上有三個亮灼灼的大字，映著那星月光輝，乃是「御花園」。行者近前看了，有幾重封皮，公然將鎖門鏽住了，即命八戒動手。那獃子掣鐵鈀，盡力一築，把門築得粉碎。行者先舉步䟕入，忍不住跳將起來，大呼小叫。諕得八戒上前扯住道：「哥呀，害殺我也。那見做賊的這般吆喝？驚醒了人，把我們拿住，發到官司，就不該死罪，也要解回原籍充軍。」正行时，只见有一座三簷白簇的门楼，上有三个亮灼灼的大字，映着那星月光辉，乃是「御花园」。行者近前看了，有几重封皮，公然将锁门锈住了，即命八戒动手。那呆子掣铁钯，尽力一筑，把门筑得粉碎。行者先举步䟕入，忍不住跳将起来，大呼小叫。諕得八戒上前扯住道：「哥呀，害杀我也。那见做贼的这般吆喝？惊醒了人，把我们拿住，发到官司，就不该死罪，也要解回原籍充军。」
逐句解 Line by line
As they went along, they saw a three-eaved gate-tower, clean-white and bright, bearing three great gleaming characters lit by the light of the stars and moon — it read 'Imperial Garden.'
三簷白簇: a three-eaved tower, white and clean-clustered — the tiered roofs that mark a gateway of consequence. 御花園, 'Imperial Garden,' picked out by starlight on the plaque. The novel takes a moment to compose the shot before it shows you what is behind the gate. 映著 = zhe; 那 = nà; 行 = xíng.
The Pilgrim went up to look: there were several layers of sealing-paper, and the lock had plainly rusted the door fast; so he bade Bajie set to.
幾重封皮: several layers of sealing-paper (重 = chóng, 'layers,' not zhòng, 'heavy') — strips pasted over a door so that nobody can open it without the tampering showing. Layered seals and a lock rusted solid mean this garden has been shut up for years, which is the first hint of what they are about to see. 將鎖門鏽住了: the lock had rusted the door fast (將 = jiāng). 了 = le.
The blockhead drew out his iron rake and, with all his strength, struck once and smashed the door to powder.
鐵鈀 is Bajie's iron rake, his weapon and his farming tool at once (鈀 = pá). 盡力一築: one blow with everything he has (盡 = jìn). 築得粉碎: smashed to powder (得 = de). So much for the careful stealth of two lines ago. 那 = nà.
The Pilgrim, stepping in first, could not hold back but leapt up with a great shout and cry.
舉步䟕入: he lifts his foot and strides in. 䟕 is a rare character — you will find it in this edition and almost nowhere else — and its reading is given here as chà, provisionally, as a verb of stepping or entering; the pronunciation is not settled, though the sense is clear enough from the company it keeps. 跳將起來: leapt up (將 = jiāng). 忍不住: could not hold himself in (不 = bú).
Startled, Bajie came forward, clutched him, and said: 'Brother! You'll be the death of me.'
諕得: startled out of his skin — 諕 read xià, an older way of writing 嚇, 'to frighten' (得 = de). 害殺我也: 'you'll be the death of me.'
'Whoever saw a thief bawl like this?'
那見做賊的這般吆喝 — 'whoever saw a thief carry on like this?' — the questioning nǎ again, and the same joke as at the wall, now with the roles firmly reversed: it is the timid pig lecturing the reckless monkey on how to burgle.
'Wake people up, and we'll be seized and haled before the magistrate; even if it's no capital crime, we'll still be sent back to our native place for military service.'
Bajie has the penalties by heart. 發到官司: handed over to the authorities. 解回原籍充軍 is to be escorted under guard back to your registered home district and put into penal military service (解 = jiè, 'to escort a prisoner'). It was a real Ming sentence, a step below execution, and the fact that a pig-demon can rattle it off is the joke. 了 = le; 不該 = bù.
The pair reach the garden and the caper's momentum carries into a burst of slapstick: Bajie shatters the sealed and rusted gate at a single blow, and Wukong, first through the breach, cannot help crying out at what he sees. The novel takes care with the frame first — three tiered eaves, three characters catching the starlight — before showing what lies behind it.
Bajie's panic then reverses their usual roles to good effect. It is the timid pig, not the reckless monkey, who counsels stealth, scolding his brother for bawling like no proper thief and reciting the legal consequences with unnerving precision: arrest, the magistrate, penal exile to one's home district. The would-be grave-robber worries about the statutes even here — a faint echo of Wukong's own legal scruples an hour earlier.
The passage also carries the chapter's one genuinely unsettled reading, the rare character 䟕 in 舉步䟕入. It is encoded exactly as the 世德堂本 prints it, and chà is offered only provisionally, pending confirmation. The sense — that he strode in — is secure from context even where the pronunciation is not.