負屍出水 Surfacing With the Corpse
八戒急回頭看，不見水晶宮門，一把摸著那皇帝的屍首，慌得他腳軟筋麻，攛出水面，扳著井牆，叫道：「師兄，伸下棒來救我一救。」行者道：「可有寶貝麼？」八戒道：「那裡有，只是水底下有一個井龍王，教我馱死人，我不曾馱，他就把我送出門來，就不見那水晶宮了，只摸著那個屍首。諕得我手軟筋麻，掙搓不動了。哥呀，好歹救我救兒。」行者道：「那個就是寶貝，如何不馱上來？」八戒道：「知他死了多少時了，我馱他怎的？」行者道：「你不馱，我回去耶。」八戒道：「你回那裡去？」行者道：「我回寺中，同師父睡覺去。」八戒急回头看，不见水晶宫门，一把摸着那皇帝的尸首，慌得他脚软筋麻，撺出水面，扳着井墙，叫道：「师兄，伸下棒来救我一救。」行者道：「可有宝贝么？」八戒道：「那里有，只是水底下有一个井龙王，教我驮死人，我不曾驮，他就把我送出门来，就不见那水晶宫了，只摸着那个尸首。諕得我手软筋麻，挣搓不动了。哥呀，好歹救我救儿。」行者道：「那个就是宝贝，如何不驮上来？」八戒道：「知他死了多少时了，我驮他怎的？」行者道：「你不驮，我回去耶。」八戒道：「你回那里去？」行者道：「我回寺中，同师父睡觉去。」
逐句解 Line by line
Bajie quickly looked back — the gate of the Crystal Palace was gone; his hand fell upon the emperor's corpse, and, flustered till his legs went soft and his sinews numb, he shot up to the surface, clung to the well-wall, and cried: 'Brother! Reach the staff down and save me!'
一把摸著: his hand closes on it (著 = zháo, marking the contact as made). 慌得: flustered to the point that (得 = de). 攛出水面: shoots up to the surface. 扳著井牆: hangs on to the well-wall (扳 = bān; 著 = zhe). The gate is gone, the water is back, and there is a dead emperor in his arms. 那 = nà; 不見 = bú.
The Pilgrim said: 'Is there any treasure?'
Wukong, who has worked out the whole thing from the surface, asks after the treasure. 行 = xíng.
Bajie said: 'Where's any treasure? There's only a Well Dragon-King at the bottom, who'd have me haul a dead man; I wouldn't do it, so he sent me packing out the gate, the crystal palace vanished, and now I've only got hold of this corpse.'
教我馱死人: wanted me to haul a dead man (教 = jiào). Note the two 那 readings in one speech: 那裡有 is the questioning nǎ, 'where would there be any?', while 那水晶宮 and 那個屍首 are the pointing nà. 摸著 = zháo.
'It's frightened me till my hands are soft and my sinews numb — I can't struggle free.'
諕得: frightened to the point that (諕 = xià, the older writing of 嚇; 得 = de). 掙搓不動: cannot struggle free (不 = bú).
'Brother, come what may, save me, save me!'
好歹: come what may, one way or another. 救我救兒: save me, save me — the 兒 here is a light colloquial tag rather than a word in its own right, the vocal equivalent of a tug on the sleeve.
The Pilgrim said: 'That's the very treasure — why don't you haul it up?'
The reveal, delivered with maximum economy. That is the treasure. 那個就是寶貝 (那 = nà).
Bajie said: 'Who knows how long he's been dead — what do I want with hauling him?'
死了多少時: dead how long, exactly? A fair question from a man in the water with it.
The Pilgrim said: 'If you won't carry him, I'm going back.'
And the threat that ends every argument these two ever have. 行 = xíng.
Bajie said: 'Go back where?'
回那裡去: 'back where?' (那 = nǎ, the questioning reading).
The Pilgrim said: 'Back to the temple, to sleep with the Master.'
寺中: 中 = zhōng. 睡覺: to go to sleep (覺 = jiào, the 'sleep' reading, not jué). He is proposing to go to bed and leave his brother clinging to a well-wall in the dark with a corpse.
The trap closes with a jolt of the marvelous. The palace vanishes, the water returns, and Bajie comes up with an emperor in his arms. His panic — legs soft, sinews numb, clinging to the well-wall and shouting for rescue — is broad physical comedy, and his account of the dragon-king's ruse is the aggrieved report of a man comprehensively outmaneuvered by someone he took for a pauper.
Wukong, who has known all along, turns the screw with a deadpan question about the treasure. When Bajie balks at the corpse he supplies the truth — that is the treasure — and then, meeting the pig's disgust, reaches for his surest weapon: the announcement that he is going back to the temple to sleep, leaving his brother stranded in the well with a body he cannot climb out past.
The exchange distils both the pair's dynamic and the chapter's method. Every stage of this recovery has been achieved by working on Bajie rather than on the problem — first greed, then fear, and now the threat of abandonment. The comedy of the reluctant corpse-bearer, bargaining on a well-wall for his own rescue, will run all the way back to the temple.