原文 Original text
繁體 Traditional
Reader's edition
下回分解 To Be Continued
畢竟這去不知看出甚麼病來,用甚麼藥品。欲知端的,且聽下回分解。毕竟这去不知看出甚么病来,用甚么药品。欲知端的,且听下回分解。
逐句解 Line by line
畢竟這去不知看出甚麼病來,用甚麼藥品。
毕竟这去不知看出甚么病来,用甚么药品。
There is no telling what sickness he will make out from this, nor what medicines he will use.
甚 takes shén before 麼 at both sites, closing a chapter that has run the character through both its readings more than a dozen times.
欲知端的,且聽下回分解。
欲知端的,且听下回分解。
If you would know the truth of it, listen to the next chapter and it will be explained.
的 reads dì in 端的, the older spoken word for what is actually so — the second and last of the chapter's two, the first being the eunuch's promise at the drum tower. 分 is fēn, to divide out or set forth.
The closer names the two things the chapter has withheld: what is wrong with the king, and what will be done about it. Everything up to here has been about getting into the room.
端的 comes round for the second time, two thousand characters after the first. A court eunuch used it at the drum tower to mean they would soon find out the truth; the storyteller uses it here to promise the reader the same thing, and then defers it to the next chapter.
What this chapter has actually delivered is a monkey who stole a royal proclamation to avoid buying vinegar, and who is now walking into a sick king's private apartments with three tail hairs and no medical training whatever.