懼內庸夫 A Henpecked Husband
牛王滿面陪笑道：「美人，休得煩惱。有甚話說？」那女子跳天索地，口中罵道：「潑魔害殺我也！」牛王笑道：「你為甚事罵我？」女子道：「我因父母無依，招你護身養命。江湖中說你是條好漢，你原來是個懼內的庸夫。」牛王满面陪笑道：「美人，休得烦恼。有甚话说？」那女子跳天索地，口中骂道：「泼魔害杀我也！」牛王笑道：「你为甚事骂我？」女子道：「我因父母无依，招你护身养命。江湖中说你是条好汉，你原来是个惧内的庸夫。」
逐句解 Line by line
The Bull King, his face all smiles, said, "Beauty, do not distress yourself. What have you to tell me?"
休得 is the vernacular "don't," and its 得 is dé. 甚 is shén, the question word, not the shèn that means "extremely."
The woman leapt to the sky and clawed at the ground, railing aloud, "You foul demon, you have been the death of me!"
跳天索地 — leaping at the sky and clawing at the ground — is a stock phrase for a temper entirely off its leash, grabbing in every direction at once. 中 is zhōng.
The Bull King laughed and said, "On what account do you rail at me?"
為 is wèi here, the "on account of" reading — for what matter. Two passages later the same character will be wéi and mean "become."
The woman said, "It was because my father and mother left me without support that I took you in, to guard my person and keep me alive."
招 is the same verb the Local Spirit used of this marriage at the top of the chapter, in the compound 招贅. She is restating the terms of the deal, and the terms are protection in exchange for property.
"On the rivers and lakes they call you a stout fellow. You turn out to be a common creature that goes in fear of his wife."
江湖 — rivers and lakes — is the world outside settled society, where reputations get made; it is the same word that gives modern Chinese its whole vocabulary of martial-arts fiction. 懼內 is the polite idiom for henpecked, and it is literal: to be afraid of the inner rooms, which is where the wife lives. 庸夫 is a man of no quality. She has placed the insult in the one spot where a warrior's reputation cannot defend him.
Her accusation is chosen with precision. She does not charge him with neglect or unfaithfulness, either of which he could argue about; she charges him with being frightened of his wife. It is the one indictment that cannot be answered by talking, only by doing, and the rest of the chapter is the doing.
The exchange also completes a picture the Local Spirit sketched at the opening. He reported that a fox king's daughter with a fortune and no protector had recruited a demon of great powers; she now states the bargain herself in almost the same words — she was without support, and she took him in to guard her person. What was third-hand intelligence there is a grievance spoken by the party to it here.
The Bull King's manner throughout is placating and faintly amused. He smiles, he laughs, he asks what the matter is. The novel is careful to show him at ease immediately before it shows him arming, so that we register the change as a decision rather than a temperament.