原文 Original text
繁體 Traditional
Reader's edition
舊年又請 Last Year A Daoist
行者道：「可曾再請甚麼人拿他？」老者道：「舊年又請了一個道士。」行者道：「那道士怎麼拿他？」行者道：「可曾再请甚么人拿他？」老者道：「旧年又请了一个道士。」行者道：「那道士怎么拿他？」
逐句解 Line by line
行者道：「可曾再請甚麼人拿他？」
行者道：「可曾再请甚么人拿他？」
Pilgrim said, "Did you ever engage anyone else to catch it?"
甚 is shén, "what," inside 甚麼人 — anyone at all. 曾 is céng, "ever" or "once" — not the zēng of the surname. Automatic transcription supplies the surname reading at this one site and the correct one at the other two in this chapter.
老者道：「舊年又請了一個道士。」
老者道：「旧年又请了一个道士。」
The old man said, "Last year we engaged a Daoist as well."
舊年 is last year, where the monk came 前年, the year before that. The account is moving forward in time towards the present.
行者道：「那道士怎麼拿他？」
行者道：「那道士怎么拿他？」
Pilgrim said, "And how did that Daoist go about catching it?"
Almost the same words as the question about the monk, and it gets the same kind of answer.
Three short exchanges and the shape of the scene is set: Pilgrim asks who else, the old man names a specialist, Pilgrim asks for the method. He is building a list of what has already been tried, which is what any professional does before quoting for a job.
The repetition is nearly word for word. 那和尚怎的拿來 became 那道士怎麼拿他, and the answer arrives in the same form as before — a recitation rather than a report.