巧言誆哄 Lured with Fair Words
妖精道：「那火雲洞洞主，不是個傷生的，一定是你們衝撞了他也。」八戒道：「我不曾衝撞他，是師兄悟空衝撞他的。他變作一個小孩兒，吊在樹上，試我師父。師父甚有善心，教我解下來，著師兄馱他一程。是師兄摜了他一摜，他就弄風兒，把師父攝去了。」妖精道：「你起來，跟我進那洞裡見洞主，與你說個人情，你陪一個禮，把你師父討出來罷。」八戒道：「菩薩呀，若肯還我師父，就磕他一個頭也罷。」妖王道：「你跟來。」妖精道：「那火云洞洞主，不是个伤生的，一定是你们冲撞了他也。」八戒道：「我不曾冲撞他，是师兄悟空冲撞他的。他变作一个小孩儿，吊在树上，试我师父。师父甚有善心，教我解下来，着师兄驮他一程。是师兄掼了他一掼，他就弄风儿，把师父摄去了。」妖精道：「你起来，跟我进那洞里见洞主，与你说个人情，你陪一个礼，把你师父讨出来罢。」八戒道：「菩萨呀，若肯还我师父，就磕他一个头也罢。」妖王道：「你跟来。」
逐句解 Line by line
The demon said: ‘The lord of that Fire-Cloud Cave is no taker of life; surely it is you who gave him offence.’
The con proper begins, and it starts by defending the demon's own character. The cave-lord is not a killer; you must have provoked him. Said in the voice of a Bodhisattva, it is almost impossible to argue with.
Eight Rules said: ‘I gave him no offence; it was my elder brother Wukong who offended him.
And Bajie folds instantly. Not me -- it was Wukong. The demon has found the fastest route into him: offer a version of events in which Bajie is not at fault, and he will take it.
He had changed into a little child and hung himself in a tree to test my master.
He recounts the trick from Chapter 40, which the demon performed personally. There is something almost affectionate about the demon sitting and listening to a detailed account of his own cleverness.
My master, being very tender-hearted, bade me untie him and had my elder brother carry him a stretch of the way.
甚 is shèn here, meaning very -- my master is very kind-hearted. That is the intensifier, against the questioning shén that the same character takes elsewhere in the chapter. And the sentence is the whole tragedy of Tripitaka in one line: he was very kind-hearted, so he had the child untied and carried.
My elder brother gave him a throw, and at once he raised a wind and carried the master off.’
The last piece of the story, and Bajie is still blaming his brother for it. 摜 guàn is to dash something to the ground -- Wukong threw the child, hard, having worked out what it was. He was right, and Bajie is reporting it as the provocation that caused all this.
The demon said: ‘Get up, and come with me into that cave to see the cave-lord; I will put in a good word for you, you make your apologies, and we'll have your master brought out.’
And the hook. Come with me into the cave, I will put in a word, you apologise, and we'll get your master back. Every element of it is designed for Bajie: no fighting, no risk, someone else doing the difficult part, and a result he can take credit for.
Eight Rules said: ‘Bodhisattva, if he will but give me back my master, I'll gladly knock my head to him.’
He does not merely agree, he offers more. I'll kowtow to him myself if it works. 也罷 ends here on the light ba, the everyday sound of easy assent rather than the full bà that means to have done with something. Bajie is being generous and biddable and it is going to get him steamed.
The demon king said: ‘Come along with me.’
Three characters. The demon has stopped needing to persuade.
The con works by giving Bajie two things he wants. First an account in which he is not to blame -- the cave-lord is peaceable, you must have offended him -- which Bajie accepts within one line, promptly naming Wukong as the offender. Then a solution that costs him nothing: I will speak for you, you apologise, and your master comes out.
It is a good confidence trick because it does not ask him to be stupid. It asks him to be lazy and to shift blame, which are his actual faults, and he obliges on both counts inside a single exchange.
The line worth sitting with is his description of Tripitaka: very kind-hearted, so he had the child untied and carried. That is the sentence the entire Red Boy episode turns on, and it is offered here in passing as an explanation for how the trouble started. It is also, precisely, correct.