Before he had finished speaking, the two women officials had already arrived, and they bowed low before the elder.

說不了 takes 了 as liǎo, the verb "to finish" — not the little word that marks a completed action. The sense is that he could not get to the end of saying it. 不 stays bù before the dipping tone of liǎo.

The elder returned each courtesy in turn and said, 「This poor monk is one who has left the household life. What virtue or ability has he, that he should presume to trouble Your Excellencies to bow to him?」

一一 is a set phrase meaning "one by one, each in turn," and it keeps yī on both characters rather than shifting to yì as an ordinary numeral would. 還禮 takes 還 as huán, to repay or return — not the hái of 還要.

The Grand Preceptor, seeing how noble and lofty the elder's features were, rejoiced privately in her heart, thinking: 「Our realm has real good fortune indeed. This man could well serve as husband to our sovereign.」

The novel gives its one moment of private thought in this passage to the antagonist rather than the hero. 中 occurs twice and is zhōng both times; 相貌 takes 相 as xiàng; 造化 is huà. 男子 takes 子 as zǐ, the word for a man, not the small-and-familiar ending of 獃子. 做得 takes 得 as the de of possibility — he could be made to serve.

The two officials, their obeisance done, rose and stood in attendance to left and right, saying, 「Venerable imperial brother, a thousand thousand felicitations to you.」

御弟爺爺 stacks an honorific on a title. 爺爺 is the deferential form of address the whole country will use for Tripitaka from here on, and a doubled family word like this one takes a light second syllable. 萬千之喜 is formula congratulation, and its cheerfulness is entirely one-sided.

「I am one who has left the household life,」 said Tripitaka. 「Whence should any felicity come to me?」

出家人 is the standing self-description of a monk: literally one who has gone out from the household. His answer is not a refusal but an objection of category — congratulation of this kind cannot apply to him at all.

The Grand Preceptor bowed from the waist and said, 「This place is the Women's Country of Western Liang, and in this realm there has never from the first been a single man.

此處 takes 處 as chù, the place-word, against the chǔ of 處治 in the previous passage. 國中 is zhōng; 沒 is méi; 男子 again takes zǐ.

By good fortune the venerable imperial brother has now come down to us. Your servant, bearing our sovereign's command, comes expressly to sue for a match.」

降臨 takes 降 as jiàng, to descend — the verb kept for a god or an imperial personage arriving, exactly as in the queen's own 下降 back in the throne room. 求親 is the formal act of asking for a marriage.

「Mercy on us, mercy on us!」 said Tripitaka. 「This poor monk came alone to your honoured land; no children accompany him, and he has only three stubborn disciples. I do not know which of them it is that Your Excellency sues for.」

He plays for time by pretending to misunderstand. 善哉 renders the Sanskrit sādhu, "it is well" — a formula of approval that vernacular fiction turned into a general pious exclamation, roughly "mercy on us." 那個 takes 那 as nǎ, the question word "which," not the pointing nà. 兒女 takes 兒 as ér; 相隨 takes 相 as xiāng.

The warden said, 「This humble officer has just been to court to make report, and our sovereign was greatly delighted and said that last night she had a lucky dream — she dreamed that a golden screen put forth brilliant colours and a jade mirror opened out its light.

The dream is reported a second time, now at one remove, and the repetition is how a court decision turns into a fact on the ground. 進朝 takes 朝 as cháo; 十分 takes 分 as fēn; 夜來得 takes 得 as dé, attainment. In 一吉夢 the 一 is an ordinary numeral and shifts to yì before the rising tone of 吉.

The imperial brother is a man of the Middle Flowery Land, a superior realm. Our sovereign would, with the wealth of a whole kingdom, take the venerable imperial brother into her house as husband, that he might sit facing south and style himself the Solitary One, while she would be his empress-consort.

招贅 is the detail an English reader is most likely to miss. It does not mean marriage in general; it means marriage in which the husband moves into the wife's household and the children take her line — in Ming society the recourse of poor men, and a real social comedown. 坐南面稱孤: to sit facing south is to occupy the throne, and 孤, the Solitary One, is a ruler's word for himself. 稱 is chēng; 為 occurs twice and is wéi both times; 中華 is zhōng plus huá; 男兒 takes 兒 as ér.

She has issued a command setting the Grand Preceptor to act as go-between and this humble officer to preside over the match, and so we have come expressly to sue for this marriage.」

傳旨著 takes 著 as zhuó, the reading that means setting someone to a task. The sentence closes the embassy's brief by naming its own authority, which is the shape a Ming official petition takes.

Tripitaka heard this and bowed his head without a word.

Eight characters of nothing happening, and they are the hinge of the chapter. Every previous danger has been answered by speech or by force; this one produces 低頭不語 — head down, no word.

The Grand Preceptor said, 「When a great man meets his hour he must not let it slip.

大丈夫遇時 is proverbial, and it belongs to the world of worldly advice rather than court ceremony: when a great man's hour comes he must not let it slip. 不可 keeps bù, 可 being a dipping tone.

Such a match as this may be found here and there in the world, but to be entrusted with the wealth of a kingdom is a rare thing on this earth indeed.

託國之富 echoes the queen's own 一國之富, and Eight Rules will throw this exact phrase back at the Grand Preceptor in the next passage. 世上實稀 closes the argument on scarcity, which is the only argument a court can make to a man who wants nothing.

Let the imperial brother consent quickly, so that we may go back and make our report.」

庶好 is "so that it may be well to" — a subordinate's way of applying pressure without appearing to. The whole speech has been a sales pitch, and it ends with a deadline.

The elder only grew the more dumb and stupefied.

His silence is not a tactic but a collapse, and the passage ends inside it. 痴啞 pairs stupefaction with muteness, and 越加 marks it getting worse: the 低頭不語 of a few lines back has deepened rather than lifted.