As the monk and the old men talked back and forth, question and answer, the household folk at last left off their fear.

一問一答 — one asks, one answers — is the sound of a room calming down. Watching two old men chat politely with a monk, the household finally stops being frightened. 那 points — nà.

At the head they set out a table and invited the Tang Monk to the seat of honor;

將 is jiāng, the helper word swinging the object forward. 上坐 is the seat at the head, and the seating plan that follows is a small diagram of rank: master above, disciples down the sides, hosts in front.

on either side they laid three tables and seated his three companions;

Three tables for three disciples, one each. Somebody has thought about elbow room.

and at a table in front sat the two old men.

And the two brothers at the front, facing their guests.

First they brought out vegetarian fruits and greens, then noodles and rice, side-dishes and bean-flour broth, all set out neat and trim.

The menu, in the order it arrives: fruit and greens first, then 麵飯 noodles and 米飯 rice, 閑食 the odds and ends between courses, and 粉湯, a broth with bean-flour noodles in it. 排得齊齊整整 takes 得 as de, the link to how it turned out — laid out neat and square.

The Tang elder took up his chopsticks and first recited a scroll of the Grace-Before-Meat Sutra.

箸 is the older word for chopsticks. The 啟齋經 is the short scripture said to open a meal — grace before meat, and mercifully brief in most houses. 長 in 唐長老 is zhǎng. Not brief enough, as it turns out.

The blockhead — for one thing given to bolting his food, for another half-starved — was in no mood to wait for Tripitaka to finish; he seized a red-lacquered wooden bowl, tipped a whole bowl of white rice down his gullet with a plop, and it was gone.

Two reasons are offered and neither is an excuse: 急吞, a bolter by temperament, and 餓了, hungry as well. 那裡等 is asking, not pointing — nǎ — and it is the narrator being sarcastic: as if he would wait. Then a bowl of white rice goes down 撲的, with a plop, and 就了了 — 了 read liǎo, finished, followed by 了 read le, the little marker saying it has happened. One character, twice, two readings, and the rice is gone. 那獃子 points — nà.

A young servant at his side said: "This reverend has no notion of thrift — instead of stowing away the steamed buns, he stows away the rice; won't he soil his robe?"

Here is the joke, and it needs one fact: a Ming gown had wide sleeves, and people carried things in them. 籠 is to stow something away up your sleeve. The servant has not seen the rice eaten, only vanish, so he assumes it has been pocketed — and reproaches the reverend gentleman for pocketing loose rice rather than buns, which will make a mess of his robe. 傍邊 takes 傍 as páng.

Eight Rules laughed: "I stowed nothing away — I ate it."

不曾籠: I didn't pocket it. Bajie is enjoying himself.

The servant said: "You never raised it to your lips — how could you have eaten it?"

不曾舉口 — never raised it to your mouth. The boy is not being rude; he genuinely did not see a mouth open.

Eight Rules said: "Sonny-boys, don't tell tales — I plainly ate it;

兒子們 is Bajie calling the servants "sonny," a cheerful insult he uses whenever he is winning. The 兒 is ér, the character in its own right meaning child, not the little -r ending. 分明: plain as day.

if you doubt it, I'll eat another for you to watch."

再吃與你看: I'll eat another one for you to watch. The demonstration is offered as proof, and works out well for everyone except the kitchen.

The young servants brought another bowl, filled it, and handed it to Eight Rules.

They bring the bowl. Of course they do. 那 points — nà.

The blockhead gave it a flick, tipped it down his gullet, and again it was gone.

幌一幌 is a quick flick of the wrist, and then 就了了 again — the same liǎo-then-le pair, and the same result. The repetition is the comedy: the second bowl goes exactly like the first, and nobody sees it happen this time either.

The serving-boys, seeing it, exclaimed: "Good heavens!

爺爺呀 is the shout of somebody who has just watched a physical law fail — near enough "good grief."

Your throat must be laid of polished brick — truly smooth and slick."

The best line in the passage, and the servants get it: 磨磚砌的喉嚨, a throat laid up out of polished brick, 又光又溜 — smooth and slick. The image is a builder's. They are describing his gullet as masonry. 著實 takes 著 as zhuó, "truly."

Tripitaka's one scroll of sutra was not yet done, and already he had put away five or six bowls.

The measurement that makes the scene: one scroll of scripture against five or six bowls of rice. 那 points — nà; 還未完 takes 還 as hái, "not yet."

Only then did they take up their chopsticks together and eat the meal as one.

然後卻才 — only then, and not before — is the narrator dwelling on it. 同舉箸: chopsticks up together, as though the meal were only now starting.

The blockhead, rice or noodles, fruit or side-dish, all alike, just scooped and gorged without measure, still bawling: "More rice, more rice!"

只情一撈 is scooping away with no thought for anything else; 噇 is chuáng, a coarse word for stuffing food in. Rice, noodles, fruit, side dishes, all one to him — and he is shouting for more with his mouth full. 還 is hái.

Little by little the food stopped coming.

漸漸不見來了: little by little, nothing more came. A quiet sentence doing a great deal of work. They have run out of food.

Pilgrim called out: "Worthy brother, eat a little less — even this is far better than starving in the mountain-hollow; make do, and if you reach half-full, that will serve."

強似 takes 強 as qiáng, better than. Wukong's appeal is to memory, not manners: this beats going hungry in a mountain hollow, so settle for half full. 將就 takes 將 as jiāng; 夠得半飽 takes 得 as de; 罷 is ba, softening the request.

Eight Rules said: "The cheek of it!

嘴臉 thrown back as a retort — near enough "the cheek of it."

As the saying goes: 'To feast a monk and leave him unfilled is worse than burying him alive.'"

And he has a proverb ready: 齋僧不飽，不如活埋 — to feast a monk and leave him short is worse than burying him alive. The edition marks it as a quotation, and the sentence ends on 哩, li, the light word that lets a speaker rest his case. Bajie has produced a saying that makes his own greed a point of religious principle.

Pilgrim ordered: "Clear away the things and pay him no mind."

家火 is the kitchen gear, pots and dishes together. 莫睬他: take no notice. 教 is jiào.

The two old men bowed and said: "To be honest with you, reverend, by daylight we should not be afraid — even a big-bellied elder like this we could feast, a hundred or more of him.

The hosts are mortified, and their apology is the sweetest thing in the scene: by daylight we could have fed a hundred of him. 倒 is dào, the "on the contrary" reading; 長 in 長老 is zhǎng; 齋得起 takes 得 as de — could afford to feed.

But it is late, and the leftover feast is cleared; we have steamed only one dàn of flour-rice, five dǒu of rice, and a few tables of vegetarian fare, meaning to invite some kin and neighbors and the monks to share the blessing-food.

The larder, counted out — and 石 is not a stone here. Read shí it is rock, the cobble Bajie dropped in the river earlier in the chapter and the slab of the stele; read dàn, as here, it is the largest of the old dry measures for grain, and that is the reading the ruby gives it at this one site out of six in the chapter. So: one dàn of noodle-flour food and five dǒu of rice. 石 and 斗 are two rungs of the same ladder, ten 斗 to the 石 and ten 升 to the 斗 — the same 升 the old man counted out at the gate. A Ming 斗 held about ten litres, which makes this a great deal of food, and Bajie has eaten most of it. 散福 is sharing out the blessed leftovers of a rite among neighbours, which is what the whole spread was for. 只蒸得 takes 得 as dé; and because dàn falls, the 一 in front of it shifts to yí.

We did not look for you gentlemen to come; the monks were frightened off, and we dared not even invite the kin and neighbors, so the whole of it has been served up to you.

And the guests have eaten the neighbours' share. 不期 is "we never expected"; 盡數都 takes 數 as shù and 都 as dōu — the whole lot, served up to you. 諕得 takes 諕 as xià and 得 as de.

If you are still not filled, we shall have more steamed."

再教蒸去: we'll have more steamed. 教 is jiào. It is offered out of pure courtesy.

Eight Rules said: "Steam more, steam more!"

And taken at once, twice over, with no courtesy at all.