玉質嬌姿 Jade Substance And Tender Grace
四老見三藏發怒，一個個咬指擔驚，再不復言。那赤身鬼使暴躁如雷道：「這和尚好不識擡舉。我這姐姐那些兒不好？他人材俊雅，玉質嬌姿，不必說那女工針指，只這一段詩材，也配得過你。你怎麼這等推辭？休錯過了。孤直公之言甚當，如果不可苟合，待我再與你主婚。」四老见三藏发怒，一个个咬指担惊，再不复言。那赤身鬼使暴躁如雷道：「这和尚好不识擡举。我这姐姐那些儿不好？他人材俊雅，玉质娇姿，不必说那女工针指，只这一段诗材，也配得过你。你怎么这等推辞？休错过了。孤直公之言甚当，如果不可苟合，待我再与你主婚。」
逐句解 Line by line
Seeing Tripitaka angry, the four old men bit their fingers in alarm, one after another, and said nothing more.
擔 is dān, the verb of bearing, inside 擔驚 — to carry alarm. The character takes the other value later in this same stretch.
The bare-bodied demon runner flew into a rage like thunder: "This monk has no idea when he is being honoured.
The demon runner has carried a tray twice and said nothing. This is his first speech in the chapter, and it arrives the moment the gentlemen fall silent. 和 is hé in 和尚, the value it takes at three of its nine sites here.
"Where is my sister lacking?
He calls her 姐姐, elder sister, which places him in her household rather than the Eighteenth Duke's.
"Her person is handsome and refined, her substance jade and her form tender; never mind her needlework — on this one stretch of poetic talent alone she is a match for you.
得 links the verb to its complement in 配得過, to be a match for, and takes the light value. Notice the argument: she out-writes you. It is the only currency the evening has recognised.
"Why do you refuse like this?
Seven characters, in the middle of a speech and therefore standing alone: a unit mid-speech is not a tail however short.
"Do not let it slip.
Four characters. Only one other segment in the chapter that is not an attribution runs so short — 法者，度也。 in the sermon — and this one stands alone on the same ground as the segment before it. A join was considered and declined: the rule that folds a short unit into its neighbour covers a formula or an exclamation, and a subjectless command is neither.
"The Duke of Lonely Uprightness spoke very properly. If it may not be done irregularly, then let me preside over the wedding for you."
甚當 takes shèn and dāng — very fitting. The demon has been listening: he cites the objection that was raised against him and adopts the remedy that came with it.
The four gentlemen bite their fingers and stop talking, which is the clearest thing they do all evening. They know they have overreached, and their response is not to apologise but to fall silent and let somebody else speak.
Somebody else is the naked red-bearded demon who has been carrying trays since the temple gate. He has not had a word until now. He takes over the argument at the exact moment it becomes coercion, and he makes it in a completely different voice — no allusions, no couplets, just a list of the woman's merits and a question about why anyone would refuse.
What he offers as the clinching point is her poetry. Never mind her needlework, he says: on her verse alone she is a match for you. It is a genuinely funny line and it is also exactly right about the evening. Poetry has been the currency all night, she out-wrote everyone in the room, and the demon has drawn the obvious conclusion.