Now that Pilgrim, shouldering his iron cudgel and laughing aloud, came back from the far side of the ravine.

He comes back laughing, which tells Sha Monk nothing good. Both instances of 那 — in 那行者 and 澗那邊 — point, so nà; 著 in 搴著鐵棒 is zhe, showing the action going on: shouldering it.

Sha Monk, hearing him, hurried out of the wood to meet him: "Brother! You're back only after half a day — what's this smirking laughter? I suppose you've saved the master out?"

Sha Monk hopes for the obvious explanation. 哂 is shěn, a smirk; 著 in 迎著 is zhe, coming out to meet him.

Pilgrim said: "Brother, though I did not manage to rescue the master, old Sun did come off with the upper hand."

And gets the rueful truth instead. Both instances of 得 — in 救得 and 得個上風 — are dé: manage to rescue, and gain the advantage.

Sha Monk said: "What upper hand?"

The straight man's question. 甚 in 甚麼上風 is shén.

Pilgrim said: "It turns out Pig Eight Rules was lured back by that fiend counterfeiting Guanyin, and is hung up inside a leather bag.

那 in 那怪 points, so nà; 將 in 哄將回來 is jiāng, carrying the verb back this way: lured back; 觀 in 觀音 is guān.

I meant to work out some rescue, when unexpectedly he sent those six captains of his off to invite the Old Great King to come eat the master's flesh.

著 in 著甚麼六健將去請 is zhuó, the sending-someone reading: sent the six captains off. 甚 in 甚麼 is shén; 將 in 六健將 is jiàng, captains.

So old Sun reckoned that this Old Great King of his must be the Bull Demon King, and I changed into his likeness, passed myself off and went in, and sat down in the midst.

The plan, retold with relish. 著 in 想著 is zhe, showing the thinking going on; 將 in 充將進去 is jiāng, carrying the verb inward: passed himself in; 中 and 間 in 中間 are zhōng and jiān.

He called me father, and I answered him;

He called me father, and I answered him. 應 is yìng, the answering sense.

he kowtowed, and I took it square.

直受 — "took it square," straight on, without a murmur of protest. This is the part he is proudest of.

It was truly delightful — I really did come off with the upper hand."

著實 here is zhuó plus 實, meaning "truly, thoroughly"; 得 in 得了上風 is dé, won the advantage.

Sha Monk said: "Brother — you go after a petty bargain like this, and I fear the master's life may not be saved."

Sha Monk punctures it in one line, and gently. 便 in 便宜 is pián, a bargain or petty gain — 小便宜 is exactly the modern phrase for a cheap win not worth having. 難 in 難保 is nán, hard to preserve.

Pilgrim said: "No need to fret — wait while I go and invite the Bodhisattva."

And Wukong, who has already worked it out, names the real remedy: fetch Guanyin.

Sha Monk said: "Your waist still aches, you know."

Sha Monk remembers the injury from the Samādhi fire. 還 is hái, still aches.

Pilgrim said: "It doesn't ache any more.

He shrugs it off.

As the ancients said: 'When a man meets with a happy event, his spirits are bright.'

The proverb 人逢喜事精神爽 — when a man meets with a happy event his spirits brighten — is still in daily use, and here it is doing duty as a medical opinion: a small triumph has cured his backache. The edition prints it inside its quotation marks, which makes it a citation rather than verse, however neatly it scans.

You keep watch over the luggage and the horse, and wait while I go."

The parting instruction. 看 here is kān, to keep watch over or mind something — not kàn, to look at it; 著 in 看著 is zhe; 行 in 行李 is xíng.

Sha Monk said: "You've made an enemy of him now — I fear he'll harm the master; you must go quick and come back quick."

置下仇了 is "made an enemy." Go quick and come quick — Sha Monk's anxiety is well placed.

Pilgrim said: "I come back fast — in only the time of a meal I'll be back again."

A meal's time, he says, for a round trip to the Southern Sea. 得 in 來得快 is the light de; 頓飯時 is the time it takes to eat a meal.