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Reader's edition
搪塞黎民 “Fobbing Off the People”
八戒笑道：「這先兒只好哄這皇帝，搪塞黎民，全沒些真實本事。令牌響了兩個，如何又不見雲生？」八戒笑道：「这先儿只好哄这皇帝，搪塞黎民，全没些真实本事。令牌响了两个，如何又不见云生？」
逐句解 Line by line
八戒笑道：「這先兒只好哄這皇帝，搪塞黎民，全沒些真實本事。
八戒笑道：「这先儿只好哄这皇帝，搪塞黎民，全没些真实本事。
Bajie said with a laugh, “This gentleman is only good for hoodwinking the emperor and fobbing off the common folk — he has no real skill at all.
先兒: 兒 = er, a colloquial clipping of 先生 -- roughly "this bloke here," where the polite word has been shortened into an insult. 搪塞 (táng sè) "to fob off, to stall," to give someone just enough to send them away. 全沒: 沒 = méi.
令牌響了兩個，如何又不見雲生？」
令牌响了两个，如何又不见云生？」
The tablet has cracked twice — how is it that again no cloud appears?”
響了兩個: 了 = le. 不見雲生: the falling tone of 見 pulls 不 to bú. He is keeping score out loud.
Bajie names the fraud: good enough for fooling an emperor and fobbing off farmers, no real skill underneath. It is an accurate description of what the immortal's magic has just been reduced to, and a wildly unfair one about what it was ten minutes ago.
The running count -- that is twice now -- is what keeps the pressure on. Two strokes spent, three to go, and the whole court watching a man work through a list of failures in order.