呵責呆子 Rebuking the Blockhead
卻說行者跳過枯松澗，按下雲頭，只聽得八戒與沙僧朗朗的在松間講話。行者上前喝八戒道：「你這獃子，全無人氣。你就懼怕妖火，敗走逃生，卻把老孫丟下。早是我有些南北哩。」八戒笑道：「哥啊，你被那妖精說著了，果然不達時務。古人云：『識得時務者，呼為俊傑。』那妖精不與你親，你強要認親；既與你賭鬥，放出那般無情的火來，又不走，還要與他戀戰哩。」却说行者跳过枯松涧，按下云头，只听得八戒与沙僧朗朗的在松间讲话。行者上前喝八戒道：「你这呆子，全无人气。你就惧怕妖火，败走逃生，却把老孙丢下。早是我有些南北哩。」八戒笑道：「哥啊，你被那妖精说着了，果然不达时务。古人云：『识得时务者，呼为俊杰。』那妖精不与你亲，你强要认亲；既与你赌斗，放出那般无情的火来，又不走，还要与他恋战哩。」
逐句解 Line by line
Now the Pilgrim leapt back across the Withered-Pine Torrent, brought down his cloud, and heard Eight Rules and Sha the Monk talking away merrily among the pines.
The scene cuts back across the torrent, and the detail that stings is what Wukong hears: 朗朗的, clear and cheerful, the two of them chatting away among the pines. Bajie is not fretting about his abandoned brother. He is having a pleasant time.
The Pilgrim went up and railed at Eight Rules: ‘You blockhead, you have no human feeling at all.
全無人氣 -- not a scrap of human feeling in you. It is a strong charge to level at someone who is technically a pig, and Wukong means it.
The moment you feared the demon's fire, you fled to save your skin and threw old Sun down behind.
The specific accusation, in three short bursts: you were afraid, you ran, you dropped me. No difficult readings here; the plainness is the point.
It was well I had some wits about me.’
A lovely bit of slang. 有些南北, literally "to have some north and south," means to have your wits about you -- to know which way is which. Wukong is claiming he survived on quickness alone, and he is not wrong, though the boast rather undercuts the rebuke.
Eight Rules laughed: ‘Brother, the demon had you dead to rights — you truly cannot read the times.
Bajie is entirely unabashed, and his counter is beautifully chosen: he picks up the demon's own taunt from the duel -- you cannot read the times -- and hands it to Wukong. 說著了 means the demon hit the mark, with 著 at zháo, marking that the words landed.
The ancients said: “He who knows the times is called a hero.”
And then he quotes a proverb at him. 識時務者為俊傑, "he who knows the times is a hero," is one of the most familiar sayings in Chinese -- it comes from a third-century history and is still in daily use. It generally means: read the room and adjust. 識得 takes 得 at the full dé, since discerning is an achievement. Bajie reaching for a classical proverb to dignify a flat-out bolt for safety is entirely in character.
That demon has no tie of kin with you, yet you would force the claim of kinship;
The post-mortem, and it is a shrewd one. The demon was never your kin; you forced the claim. 強 is read qiǎng here, meaning to force or compel, not the qiáng that means strong -- a different sound and a different word, and the whole judgement sits on it.
and once he took to fighting you and loosed that merciless fire, still you would not go, but must needs stay and battle him on.’
And the finish: once he loosed that merciless fire you still would not disengage. 戀戰 is to be in love with fighting, unable to break off. Bajie has correctly identified his brother's central flaw, which must be galling.
A comic reversal, and one of the best small scenes in the chapter. Wukong, freshly driven out of a fire, storms up to berate the brother who deserted him. Bajie does not apologise, does not flinch, and instead delivers a point-by-point analysis of why the whole disaster was Wukong's fault.
He even quotes scripture at him, more or less: the proverb about knowing the times is a standard piece of Chinese wisdom, and using it to dignify a flat-out bolt for safety is the sort of thing Bajie does supremely well.
The uncomfortable part is that his case is sound. The demon really was not kin, Wukong really did force the claim, and refusing to break off a losing fight really is what brought the fire down on them. For once the blockhead wins the argument, and the chapter lets him.