認親之哄 The Kinship Scramble
行者又搖手道：「不要跪，休怕。我不是監工的，我來此是尋親的。」眾僧們聽說認親，就把他圈子陣圍將上來，一個個出頭露面，咳嗽打響，巴不得要認出去。道：「不知那個是他親哩。」行者認了一會，呵呵笑將起來。眾僧道：「老爺不認親，如何發笑？」行者又摇手道：「不要跪，休怕。我不是监工的，我来此是寻亲的。」众僧们听说认亲，就把他圈子阵围将上来，一个个出头露面，咳嗽打响，巴不得要认出去。道：「不知那个是他亲哩。」行者认了一会，呵呵笑将起来。众僧道：「老爷不认亲，如何发笑？」
逐句解 Line by line
Pilgrim waved his hand again: "Don't kneel; don't be afraid.
不 is bú before 要.
I'm no overseer — I've come here to seek a kinsman."
監工, an overseer of works — the word says what the two young Daoists are, and what these men take any Daoist to be.
When the monks heard talk of finding kin, they closed in a ring around him, and one after another thrust out their heads and showed their faces, coughing and making a noise, each hoping past hope to be claimed.
The saddest sentence on the sand-flat, and it is played as farce. Five hundred men crowd in a ring, pushing their faces forward and coughing to be noticed, each hoping to be the one claimed — because a stranger's invented uncle is the only lottery any of them has been offered in years. 巴不得, to want something so badly it hurts, is still in daily use; 得 in it is full dé. 將 in 圍將上來 is jiāng, carrying the direction of the movement; 咳 is ké, to cough; 露 in 露面 is lòu, the everyday "show"; 子 is the light zi; 一 is yí.
They said: "We don't know which one is his kin."
那個 asks: 那 is nǎ, "which one." 不 is bù before 知; 哩 is li.
Pilgrim looked them over a while, then burst out laughing, ha-ha.
He laughs, and they cannot read the laugh, and that gap is where the passage turns. 將 in 笑將起來 is jiāng, carrying direction; 一 is yí before 會.
The monks said: "Your Honor doesn't recognize any kin — why do you laugh?"
不 is bú before 認.
The recognition scene is pathos and farce at once. Told that a man has come looking for a monk relative, the whole gang closes in a ring, thrusting faces forward and clearing throats to be noticed, every one of them 巴不得 — desperate past hoping — to be the one claimed and let go.
Read it straight and it is bleak: five hundred men for whom a stranger's fictional uncle is the only chance of rescue anyone has offered. Wukong's sudden laughter, which none of them can interpret, is the chapter pivoting from their abjection to his intervention.