整冠束帶 Caps Straightened And Belts Tied
那兩個館使聽言，屏退左右，一個個整冠束帶，下廳迎上相見。即命打掃客房安歇，教辦清素支應。三藏謝了。二官帶領人夫，出廳而去。那两个馆使听言，屏退左右，一个个整冠束带，下厅迎上相见。即命打扫客房安歇，教办清素支应。三藏谢了。二官带领人夫，出厅而去。
逐句解 Line by line
When the two commissioners heard this, they dismissed their attendants, straightened their caps and tightened their belts every one, and came down from the hall to meet him.
屏 reads bǐng in 屏退, to send people away — a reading it takes only in company, its bare default being píng, a folding screen. 相 is xiāng in 相見, meeting one another. The machine is no guide at all for this character: it offers xiàng both here and at 相貌, and xiāng at 相連 and 相待, so every site has to be decided on its own.
They gave orders at once that a guest room be swept out for his rest, and that plain vegetarian provision be made ready.
應 is yìng in 支應, to furnish or supply. The yīng of 'ought to' is the default and belongs to a different sense entirely.
Tripitaka gave his thanks.
Four characters, and the whole of his response to being housed and fed. 了 is the small le that marks something done, not the liǎo of finishing a thing off.
The two officers took their bearers and went out from the hall.
二官 points back to the chief and the deputy, and 人夫 to the bearers they were counting when the pilgrims interrupted. The errand they broke off is resumed in the same breath in which they leave.
The change of manner is instant and total. A moment ago these men were shouting at the door; now they clear the room of witnesses before they will be seen doing it. The order matters — attendants dismissed first, dress adjusted second, descent third — and it is the order of men who have just realised they made a mistake.
What produced it was not a show of power but one sentence of ordinary courtesy. Tripitaka's credentials do all the work Pilgrim's cudgel would have done, and rather faster.
Then the officials leave to meet the guest they were preparing for all along. The pilgrims have been received, accommodated and set aside in the space of four sentences.