Lord Lao fell to thinking of a sudden: "This monkey is a sly one — says he'll go and off he goes; only I fear he'll slip back in and steal."

The refusal lasts exactly as long as it takes Lord Lao to imagine the alternative. 憊懶 is lazy-cunning, a rogue. 猴子: rounding-off 子 = zi. 溜進來 is to slink back in — which is, after all, how this god lost his elixir the first time.

So he ordered an immortal lad to call him back: "You monkey — your hands are none too honest. I'll make you a present of one pellet of the Soul-Reverting Elixir."

還魂丹: 還 = huán. 手腳不穩 is literally "hands and feet unsteady" and means light-fingered. Closing 罷 = ba. Note what has happened: rather than risk a theft, he makes a gift.

Pilgrim said: "Old sir, since you know old Sun's skill, be quick and bring out the golden elixir — split it with me four-six, and it'll still be your good fortune;

老官兒: 兒 = er. 曉得: 得 = dé. 還是: 還 = hái, "still, all the same." 四六分分 is to split it four-to-six — and Wukong is proposing to take the six, having been offered one pellet.

otherwise, I'll make you a present of a leather skimmer — one scoop and I clean you out."

This is a two-part saying of the kind Chinese loves: name an object, then land the punchline. A 皮笊籬 is a leather ladle-strainer, and the joke is that leather has no holes — 一撈個罄盡, one scoop and the pot comes up empty. 罄盡 is utterly cleaned out; 盡 = jìn. The threat is delivered as a gift: I'll make you a present of a strainer.

The old patriarch took down his gourd, tipped it upside down, and poured out a single grain of golden elixir, handing it to Pilgrim: "That's all there is — take it, take it.

Pointing 那老祖: 那 = nà. 倒吊過底子: 倒 = dào, to invert; rounding-off 子 = zi. 傾出一粒, to pour out a single grain. The upended gourd is a piece of stage business — see, there is nothing left.

I make you a present of this one grain; revive that emperor with it, and just reckon it to your merit."

Pointing 那皇帝: 那 = nà. 功果 is merit, the credit that accrues from a good deed. Closing 罷 = ba. The god cannot resist attaching a condition to a gift he did not want to make.

Pilgrim took it and said: "Wait, don't be hasty — let me have a taste of it first; I'm only afraid it's a fake, that he's fooling me."

且休忙, "wait, no hurry." 嘗嘗看 is to give a thing a taste. 哄了, "was taken in." The pretext is beautifully chosen — accusing the god of fobbing him off with a fake is the one excuse for putting the pellet in his mouth.

With a plop he tossed it into his mouth.

撲的 is the sound itself, a plop. 一丟, a single toss. The whole sentence is seven characters and one gesture, and the scene turns on it.

In a fluster the old patriarch sprang forward and seized him, grabbed a fistful of his scalp-skin at the crown, and clenched his fist, cursing: "If this wretched ape means to swallow it down, I'll strike him dead on the spot!"

慌得: hinging 得 = de; pointing 那老祖 = nà. 揪著 and 揝著: 著 = zhe, showing the grip held. 頂瓜皮 is the skin at the crown of the head — the god has a fistful of Wukong's scalp, which is not the posture of a dignified immortal.

Pilgrim laughed: "What a face — small-house manners!

嘴臉, "what a face," is a jeer. 小家子樣 is small-house manners, the mean-spiritedness of a petty household; rounding-off 子 = zi. The word is still in use for anyone who counts the teaspoons.

Who'd be eating yours?

那個吃你的: interrogative 那個 = nǎ gè, "who, which one" — not the pointing nà.

What are a few coppers' worth?

能值幾個錢, "how much can it be worth?" — mock contempt for a pellet that is, in fact, beyond price.

All show and little substance.

虛多實少, "much show, little substance"; 少 = shǎo. He is reviewing the merchandise.

Isn't it here?"

在這裡不是, "here it is, isn't it?" — and out it comes, still whole. The reveal is held to the last four syllables of the speech.

Now this monkey had, below his chin, a throat-pouch, and he had lodged that golden elixir inside the pouch; caught at it, the old patriarch pinched him and said: "Off with you, off with you — never come pestering here again."

The explanation arrives after the trick, which is the right order. Two 那 point (那猴子, 那金丹) = nà; rounding-off 子 = zi and 兒 in 嗉袋兒 = er. 捻著: 著 = zhe. Both 罷 are ba. The 嗉袋 is a throat-pouch, the crop a bird stores food in — the novel gives its monkey one, and it wins him the chapter.

Only then did the Great Sage take his leave of the old patriarch and pass out of the Tuṣita Heaven-Palace.

兜率天宮: 率 = shuài. 出離 is to depart from, to quit. He even remembers to say thank you.