著悟淨去 Send Wujing Instead
那媽媽認得果是他與的飯,遂不拒他,留他們坐了。卻燒了一罐熱茶,遞與沙僧泡飯。沙僧即將冷飯泡了,遞與師父。師父吃了幾口,定性多時道:「那個去討行李?」八戒道:「我前年因師父趕他回去,我曾尋他一次,認得他花果山水簾洞。等我去,等我去。」長老道:「你去不得。那猢猻原與你不和,你又說話粗魯,或一言兩句之間,有些差池,他就要打你。著悟淨去罷。」沙僧應承道:「我去,我去。」那妈妈认得果是他与的饭,遂不拒他,留他们坐了。却烧了一罐热茶,递与沙僧泡饭。沙僧即将冷饭泡了,递与师父。师父吃了几口,定性多时道:「那个去讨行李?」八戒道:「我前年因师父赶他回去,我曾寻他一次,认得他花果山水帘洞。等我去,等我去。」长老道:「你去不得。那猢狲原与你不和,你又说话粗鲁,或一言两句之间,有些差池,他就要打你。着悟净去罢。」沙僧应承道:「我去,我去。」
逐句解 Line by line
The old dame saw that the rice really was what she had given, and so did not turn them away, but let them sit down.
認得 is attainment 得, dé, with 聽得 and 見得 elsewhere in the chapter -- managing to recognise, rather than merely looking. The proof Bajie offered is what gets them through the door.
She boiled a pot of hot tea and passed it to Sha Monk to soak the rice.
一罐 lifts 一 to yí before the falling tone of 罐, by the ordinary rule.
Sha Monk soaked the cold rice at once and handed it to his master.
將 is the object-hauling word, jiāng. Sha Monk soaks the cold rice and hands it over: the third small service he has performed in as many passages.
The master ate a few mouthfuls, and when he had steadied himself a good while he said: “Which of you will go and demand the baggage back?”
那個去討行李 is the question 那, nǎ -- which of you -- the same construction, in the same mouth, as 那個去化些齋來我吃 earlier in the chapter. He is once again asking somebody else to fetch something.
Bajie said: “The year before last, when the master drove him off, I went looking for him once, and I know his Water-Curtain Cave on the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit. Let me go, let me go.”
前年因師父趕他回去 refers to the expulsion of Chapter 27, and Bajie is quite right to remember it as a precedent -- he was the one sent to fetch Wukong back that time too.
The elder said: “You must not go. That baboon was never on good terms with you, and your tongue is rough besides; a word or two out of place, some small slip, and he will strike you. Send Wujing.”
A shrewd character judgment, resting on a false premise. 差池 takes 差 at chā, the sense of a slip or a discrepancy -- not the chāi of dispatch the same character took at 差往 a passage ago. 著悟淨去 is 著 setting somebody to a task, zhuó. 去不得 is the negative can't-do frame with the light de.
Sha Monk undertook it: “I will go, I will go.”
應承 takes 應 at yìng, to answer or undertake, matching the corpus reading in the sealed Chapter 26.
The household relents on evidence rather than charity: the rice is checked, found genuine, and only then are they let in. It is the same standard the old woman applied when she turned them away, applied consistently, and the novel spends one clause on it.
Tripitaka's refusal to send Bajie is a piece of accurate character judgment, which is worth noting in a chapter where his judgment has been poor throughout. Bajie is rough-tongued, he and Wukong have a history of friction, and a chance word would start a fight -- all of it true. The irony is that the reasoning is sound and the premise is not. He is planning around a quarrel with a disciple who is at Potalaka and had nothing to do with any of this.