Before long he came to the gate, and saw an old Daoist sitting cross-legged on the green turf.

綠茵 is a mat of turf. The figure is posed as a picture of cultivated repose, which the next several segments take carefully to pieces.

The Great Sage set down the earthenware bowl, stepped up and made his salutation.

Wukong observes the courtesies exactly. The whole of this passage turns on his doing so and getting nothing at all for it.

The Daoist bowed slightly in return and said, "Where is it you come from? What business brings you to our little hermitage?"

還禮 takes 還 as huán, to give back — a salutation returned, not the hái of still. 勾當 takes 當 as dàng, business or affair. Both 那 are nà.

Pilgrim said, "This poor monk is one commissioned by the Great Tang of the Land of the East to fetch scriptures from the Western Heaven.

欽差 takes 差 as chāi, to dispatch somebody on a commission, not chà, to differ. Wukong opens with the imperial credential again, exactly as he did at the cottage door.

Because my master drank by mistake of the water of the Child-and-Mother River, his belly now aches and is swollen past bearing.

難禁 takes 禁 as jīn, to endure. 子母河 takes 子 as zǐ, child. 腫脹 is distension — the vocabulary here is clinical rather than comic.

On enquiring of the local people, we were told it is a conception formed, for which there is no prescription that can cure it.

無方可治 is the formula for a condition that lies outside medicine: no prescription reaches it. Wukong reports the old woman's diagnosis accurately, hopelessness included.

We learned that there is a Fetus-Dissolving Spring in the Child-Destroying Cave of Mount Dissolving-Yang, which can dissolve the fetal humour.

Two 得 in one sentence with different readings: dé in 訪得, to learn by asking about, and the light de in 消得, which asks whether the thing can be done — able to dissolve it. Having the two side by side in a single line is the clearest illustration of the split anywhere in this stretch.

For that reason I have come expressly to call upon the True Immortal As-You-Will, to beg a little of the spring water and rescue my master.

拜見 and 求 keep the language of formal petition throughout. He is doing precisely what the old woman said the water required, minus the goods.

I must trouble the venerable Daoist to show me the way — pray show me the way."

指引指引 doubles the verb to soften it — a politeness English manages with please and a rising tone. 累煩 apologises for the imposition before making it.

The Daoist said with a laugh, "This place is the Child-Destroying Cave, but it has been changed now into the Convent of Assembled Immortals.

改為 takes 為 as wéi, the verb — changed into. 此間 takes 間 as jiān. He corrects the name before he answers anything, which is the first sign of where this conversation is going.

And I am no other than the senior disciple of His Honour the True Immortal As-You-Will.

老爺 is a term of deference for a master, roughly His Honour, and the gatekeeper applies it to his own teacher while announcing his own rank in the same breath.

What is your name called? Wait, and I will announce you properly."

甚 is shén in 甚麼. 通報 — to send word in — is the gatekeeper's function, and as it turns out, his leverage.

Pilgrim said, "I am the senior disciple of the Tang Monk Tripitaka, Master of the Law; my humble name is Sun Wukong."

賤名, my worthless name, is the conventional self-deprecation. Wukong offers it straight, with no boast attached, which for him is unusual and will shortly prove to have been a mistake.

The Daoist asked, "Where are your gifts of silk and your presents of wine?"

Two 那 with different readings in one sentence: nà, that, in 那道人, and nǎ, where, in 都在那裡. Note that the question about gifts arrives before any acknowledgement of the name just given.

Pilgrim said, "I am a wandering monk passing through, and did not manage to provide any."

辦得來 asks whether the thing could be managed, so 得 is the light de. 掛搭僧 is a monk who hangs up his bundle wherever he lodges — one with no fixed house and nothing to his name, which is the whole of his answer.

The Daoist laughed and said, "How simple you are! My old master guards the mountain spring, and has never once given it away for nothing.

並不曾白送 states the policy plainly: never once given free. 白 here means gratis, for nothing, and it carries the entire weight of the refusal.

Go back and get the gifts together, and then I will announce you.

辦將禮來 slips 將, read jiāng, in between the verb and its direction — go and get the gifts and bring them here. The instruction is delivered as though it were helpfulness.

Otherwise, please go home. Don't think of it, don't think of it."

The doubled 莫想 — don't think of it, don't think of it — has the finality of a door closing.

Pilgrim said, "A favour done outweighs an imperial edict. Go and speak my name, Old Sun's name, and he will surely do me the favour — he might even make me a present of the whole well."

人情大似聖旨 is a proverb, and still a recognisable one: a favour owed carries further than an imperial edict. It is the Ming version of it's not what you know, it's who you know. 似 is sì. Wukong is proposing that his own reputation counts as currency, and that is exactly the miscalculation the next passage turns on.