只管允他 Only Consent to Him
卻說三藏師徒們在驛廳上正享齋飯，只見外面人報：「當駕太師與我們本官老姆來了。」三藏道：「太師來卻是何意？」八戒道：「怕是女王請我們也。」行者道：「不是相請，就是說親。」三藏道：「悟空，假如不放，強逼成親，卻怎麼是好？」行者道：「師父只管允他，老孫自有處治。」却说三藏师徒们在驿厅上正享斋饭，只见外面人报：「当驾太师与我们本官老姆来了。」三藏道：「太师来却是何意？」八戒道：「怕是女王请我们也。」行者道：「不是相请，就是说亲。」三藏道：「悟空，假如不放，强逼成亲，却怎么是好？」行者道：「师父只管允他，老孙自有处治。」
逐句解 Line by line
We tell now how Tripitaka and his disciples were in the posthouse hall enjoying their vegetarian meal, when someone came in from outside to report: 「The Grand Preceptor in attendance and our own officer, the old dame, have come.」
They are eating lunch when the embassy arrives, which sets the scale of what is about to interrupt them. 齋飯 is the monastic meatless meal. 當駕 takes 當 as dāng, in attendance on the sovereign's carriage. 老姆 is a familiar way of referring to an elderly woman in service, used here of the warden by her own staff.
「What can the Grand Preceptor mean by coming?」 said Tripitaka.
卻是何意 is a shade more anxious than a neutral question. Tripitaka has already sensed that an official visit is not good news.
「I dare say the queen is inviting us,」 said Eight Rules.
怕是 is literally "I'm afraid it is," weakened here to something like "I dare say." Eight Rules reaches, as always, for the reading of events that involves a banquet.
「If it is not an invitation,」 said Pilgrim, 「then it is a marriage proposal.」
Two clauses, and he is exactly right — before either official has entered the room. 說親 is the fixed term for opening marriage negotiations. 相請 takes 相 as xiāng.
「Wukong,」 said Tripitaka, 「suppose they will not let us go and force the match upon me — what then is to be done?」
Tripitaka's question is the first admission that he cannot simply refuse. He does not ask how to say no; he asks what happens if no is not available. 強逼 takes 強 as qiáng. In 假如不放 the 不 shifts from bù to bú, because 放 is fàng and carries a falling tone.
「Master, only consent to her,」 said Pilgrim. 「Old Monkey has his own way of dealing with it.」
Four words of instruction, and the Great Sage does not offer to fight. 只管 is "just go ahead and," and 處治 takes 處 as chǔ, the verb — to deal with, to dispose of — not the chù of 去處 and 好處. The plan he will unfold four passages further on is already formed here, and he explains none of it.
Four short exchanges and a decision, and the whole interest is in how differently three disciples read the same event. Tripitaka asks what the visit means. Eight Rules guesses a dinner invitation. Pilgrim states the alternative flatly — if not an invitation, a proposal — and is correct. The novel has set out this hierarchy of perception a hundred times before, but rarely so economically.
Tripitaka's second question is the one that matters, and it gives away how much he has already understood. He does not ask how to refuse. He asks what happens if refusal is not on offer — 強逼成親, the match forced on him by compulsion. That is a danger no amount of scripture-learning or moral rectitude can answer, and in asking it he is asking, in effect, to be rescued.
Pilgrim's answer inverts everything the reader expects. The Great Sage does not reach for the staff; he tells his master to say yes. 只管允他 — just consent to her — asks Tripitaka to do the one thing his whole vocation forbids, and Pilgrim offers no explanation whatever. The chapter's own title names this move: 心猿定計, the Mind-Monkey lays a plan.