一女難捨 The Daughter He Cannot Give Up
那陳清只管磕頭相謝，又允送銀五百兩。惟陳澄也不磕頭，也不說謝，只是倚著那屏門痛哭。行者知之，上前扯住道：「老大，你這不允我，不謝我，想是捨不得你女兒麼？」陳澄才跪下道：「是，捨不得。敢蒙老爺盛情，救替了我侄子也夠了。但只是老拙無兒，止此一女，就是我死之後，他也哭得痛切，怎麼捨得？」行者道：「你快去蒸上五斗米的飯，整治些好素菜，與我那長嘴師父吃。教他變作你的女兒，我兄弟同去祭賽。索性行個陰騭，救你兩個兒女性命，如何？」那陈清只管磕头相谢，又允送银五百两。惟陈澄也不磕头，也不说谢，只是倚着那屏门痛哭。行者知之，上前扯住道：「老大，你这不允我，不谢我，想是舍不得你女儿么？」陈澄才跪下道：「是，舍不得。敢蒙老爷盛情，救替了我侄子也够了。但只是老拙无儿，止此一女，就是我死之后，他也哭得痛切，怎么舍得？」行者道：「你快去蒸上五斗米的饭，整治些好素菜，与我那长嘴师父吃。教他变作你的女儿，我兄弟同去祭赛。索性行个阴骘，救你两个儿女性命，如何？」
逐句解 Line by line
Chen Qing did nothing but knock his head in thanks, and promised a further five hundred taels of silver.
只管磕頭 — knocking his head and not stopping — and another five hundred taels on top of the thousand. Chen Qing, whose son is saved, cannot stop giving. 相謝 takes 相 as xiāng; 那 points — nà.
Only Chen Cheng neither knocked his head nor spoke a word of thanks, but leaned against the screen-gate and wept bitterly.
And beside him, 惟陳澄 — only Chen Cheng — does neither. No kowtow, no thanks. He leans on the screen-gate and sobs. The passage turns on a man who does not speak. 倚著 takes 著 as zhe; 那 points — nà.
Pilgrim understood, and going up took hold of him: "Eldest, you neither accept my offer nor thank me — I take it you cannot bear to give up your daughter?"
行者知之: Wukong understood. Two characters, and he crosses the room. 老大 is "eldest," how you address the senior brother. 捨不得 — cannot bring yourself to give it up — takes 得 as de, and it is the same phrase Wukong threw at both brothers as an accusation of stinginess a passage ago. Here he says it gently, and it means something else entirely. 女兒 takes 兒 as ér.
Only then did Chen Cheng kneel: "It is so; I cannot bear it.
是，捨不得 — 得 still de. Yes. I cannot. He has to kneel before he can say it.
That your reverence should be so generous as to save my nephew in his stead is more than enough.
敢蒙老爺盛情 is elaborate courtesy — to presume upon your generous feeling — and what it introduces is a man saying that saving his nephew is enough, that he will not ask for more. He is refusing to plead for his own daughter. 救替: to rescue by taking the place.
But I, an old fool, have no son; this one daughter is all I have, and were I dead she is the one who would weep for me most bitterly. How could I bear to give her up?"
And then the reason, which is the most affecting sentence in the chapter. Not that he loves her, though he does. 就是我死之後，他也哭得痛切 — when I am dead, she is the one who will weep for me, and weep hard. A Chinese father without a son has nobody to keep his offerings; this daughter is all the mourning he will get. He is not claiming pity. He is stating, quietly, who will be at his grave. 無兒 takes 兒 as ér; both 得 in 哭得痛切 and 捨得 are de.
Pilgrim said: "Go quickly and steam up five dǒu of rice and get ready some good vegetarian dishes for that long-snouted master of mine to eat.
And Wukong's answer to that is: go and steam five dǒu of rice. 斗 is dǒu, the dry measure, ten to the 石. He has already decided to save the girl too, and he is going about it by ordering dinner for Bajie, because he knows exactly what his brother can be bought with. 那長嘴師父 takes 那 as nà and 長 as cháng.
I shall have him change into your daughter, and we two brothers will go to the sacrifice together.
教他變作 takes 教 as jiào, to have somebody do a thing. 我兄弟同去: we two brothers will go together. Bajie has not yet been consulted. 女兒 takes 兒 as ér.
We may as well do a deed of hidden merit and save the lives of both your children. How would that be?"
索性 is "while we're at it, might as well" — the most offhand possible way to announce that you are saving a second child. 陰騭 (yīn zhì) is hidden merit: a good deed done where no one sees it, entered on heaven's books rather than in a village's gratitude. It is precisely the currency the Chens have been trading in for years — the bridges, the temples, the fed monks — and Wukong reaches for their own word without seeming to notice. 兒女 takes 兒 as ér.
This passage turns on a man who says nothing. Chen Qing, whose son has just been spared, cannot stop kowtowing and keeps raising his offer. Beside him his elder brother neither thanks nor accepts; he leans on the screen-gate and weeps, and Wukong reads it at a glance and crosses the room. What Chen Cheng then says is the most affecting speech in the chapter, and its restraint is what makes it so. He is glad his nephew is saved and says so plainly. He will not ask for more. But he has no son, this one daughter is all there is, and — 就是我死之後，他也哭得痛切 — when he is dead she is the one who will weep for him, and weep hard. It is not a claim on anybody's pity. It is a father working out who will be at his grave.
Wukong's answer extends the rescue to both children and wraps it, as ever, in comic practicality: go and steam five dǒu of rice and cook some decent vegetarian dishes for that long-snouted master of mine. He has worked out how to get Bajie into a girl's shape and the answer is dinner. And he names the deed 陰騭, hidden merit — a good act done unseen and entered on heaven's books rather than in a village's gratitude. That is exactly the currency the Chen brothers have been paying into for years, with their bridges and temples and fed monks, in the hope of getting these very children. Wukong reaches for their own word without appearing to notice he has done it.