相倚相偎 Leaning Close Together
酒至數巡,羅剎覺有半酣,色情微動,就和孫大聖挨挨擦擦,搭搭拈拈:攜著手,俏語溫存;並著肩,低聲俯就。將一杯酒,你喝一口,我喝一口,卻又哺果。大聖假意虛情,相陪相笑,沒奈何,也與他相倚相偎。酒至数巡,罗刹觉有半酣,色情微动,就和孙大圣挨挨擦擦,搭搭拈拈:携着手,俏语温存;并着肩,低声俯就。将一杯酒,你喝一口,我喝一口,却又哺果。大圣假意虚情,相陪相笑,没奈何,也与他相倚相偎。
逐句解 Line by line
When the wine had gone several rounds the Rākṣasī felt herself half tipsy, and her colour stirred a little. She fell to rubbing and jostling against the Great Sage, to touching and pinching: taking his hand, she spoke him soft and low; setting her shoulder to his, she inclined toward him in a hushed voice.
數 is shù, several. 覺 is jué, to feel. Both instances of 著 are the continuous zhe. The source cuts the sentence at a semicolon, and the two halves are matched three-and-four phrases — 攜著手/俏語溫存 and 並著肩/低聲俯就 — with no escalation between them.
Taking a single cup of wine, you drink a mouthful and I drink a mouthful, and then she would feed him fruit besides.
喝 is hē here, to drink, and it is the only sentence in the chapter where the character takes that sense — twice over, once for each drinker — against the five earlier instances that are all hè, to shout. 一 takes yì before the level tone of 杯 and before the dipping tone of 口 at both places.
The Great Sage feigned the feeling he did not have, kept her company and kept laughing, and having no help for it leaned and nestled against her too.
All four instances of 相 are the each-other xiāng. 假意虛情 labels the performance, as 故意 and 假意 have done at every earlier stage of the imposture. 沒 is méi.
The scene the novel has been building towards since the false Bull King rode up to the door arrives here, and it is handled almost entirely through doubled syllables — 挨挨擦擦, 搭搭拈拈, 相倚相偎. The doubling makes the action continuous and unemphatic, a drift rather than an event, which is exactly what wine is doing to the scene.
沒奈何 — having no help for it — is the phrase that carries the Great Sage's position. He cannot withdraw without breaking the disguise and losing the fan, so he leans back. The novel has had him counterfeiting feelings throughout the imposture, but this is the first time the counterfeit costs him anything, and it says so in three characters and moves on.