Pilgrim said: "Eldest, pay him no mind — bring out your daughter and let us see her."

令愛 is the courteous "your daughter," partner to the 令郎 used of a son. 莫信他: don't listen to him. Wukong ignores the objection and calls for the child.

Chen Cheng hurried within and carried the child One-Steelyard-of-Gold out into the hall.

急入裡邊 — hurried inside. The father who could not bring himself to ask goes and fetches her at once. 抱將 takes 將 as jiāng; 孩兒 takes 兒 as ér; 那 points — nà.

The whole household — wives and concubines, great and small, old and young, within doors and without — all came out to knock their heads and make obeisance, begging only that the child's life be saved.

And the whole house comes out: 妻妾大小, wives and concubines, 不分老幼內外, old and young, indoors and out, all of them on their knees. 只請救孩兒性命 — asking one thing only. The household that spent the evening too frightened to carry in a teapot is now prostrate in a body. 都 is dōu; 孩兒 takes 兒 as ér.

On her head that girl wore a flowered kingfisher-blue circlet hung with eight-jewel pendant pearls;

And the narrative stops to dress her, item by item, in the most loving inventory in the chapter. 八寶垂珠 is eight-jewel pendant beading; 花翠箍 a flowered circlet worked with kingfisher feather, the blue-green ornament every well-off Ming woman wanted. 那女兒 takes 那 as nà and 兒 as ér.

on her body a jacket of red-shot-yellow ramie-silk, and over it a cape of official-green damask with a chequer-board collar;

紅閃黃 is shot silk — red that flashes yellow as it moves. 紵絲 (zhù sī) is a fine ramie-and-silk cloth; 官綠 is "official green," a standard registered dye-shade, the Ming equivalent of a named Pantone; 棋盤領 is a chequerboard collar. Everything named here is expensive, and it is all on an eight-year-old. 上套著 takes 著 as zhe.

at her waist a great red skirt of figured silk was tied;

繫 is jì here, to tie a thing on — the physical act, not the xì of abstract connection. 花絹裙: a skirt of figured silk, great red.

on her feet a pair of toad-head shoes of pale red ramie-silk;

蝦蟆頭 — toad-head — names a round, blunt-toed shoe, and in 蝦蟆 (há ma) the 蝦 is read há, not the xiā that means shrimp. The detail is domestic and completely charming: her shoes are the ones that look like little frogs.

and on her legs two gold-threaded knee-hose.

綃金 is gauze shot with gold thread; 膝褲兒 are the knee-length leggings worn under a skirt, with 兒 as the little -r ending, er. That is the last item. Head to feet, and every layer of it paid for out of the ledger.

She too held a piece of fruit and was eating it.

And then the line that undoes all of it: 也拿著果子吃哩 — she too was holding a piece of fruit and eating it. The same detail as her cousin with his sleeves full of sweets, one passage earlier. Both children are eating; neither knows. 拿著 takes 著 as zhe; 哩 is li.

Pilgrim said: "Eight Rules, this is the girl.

這就是女孩兒: this is the girl. Wukong is entirely businesslike, one line after that. 兒 is ér.

Be quick and change into her likeness, and let us go to the sacrifice."

變的像他 — here 的 is standing in for 得, the link between a verb and how it comes out; the two were freely swapped in vernacular writing and the edition keeps the looser spelling.

Eight Rules said: "Brother! Something so small and dainty and pretty — how am I to change into that?"

小巧俊秀 — small, neat, delicately pretty — is four characters of everything Bajie is not. 怎變: how am I supposed to turn into *that*? 似這般 takes 似 as sì.

Pilgrim called: "Quickly now — don't ask for a beating."

莫討打: don't go asking for a beating. The whole household is kneeling and Wukong's method of persuasion is a threat.

Eight Rules took fright: "Brother, don't hit me — let me change and we shall see."

And it works instantly. 等我變了看: let me have a go and we'll see.