另扶了皇后 Another Queen In Her Place
行者道：「那娘娘問朱紫國王之事，是我說：『他不要你了，他國中另扶了皇后。』娘娘聽說，故此沒了想頭，方才命我來奉請。」妖王大喜道：「你卻中用。待我剿除了他國，封你為個隨朝的太宰。」行者道：「那娘娘问朱紫国王之事，是我说：『他不要你了，他国中另扶了皇后。』娘娘听说，故此没了想头，方才命我来奉请。」妖王大喜道：「你却中用。待我剿除了他国，封你为个随朝的太宰。」
逐句解 Line by line
Pilgrim said: "The queen was asking about the king of the Vermilion-Purple Kingdom, and I told her: He does not want you any more; they have set up another queen in his country."
中 is zhōng here, within — and the same character takes zhòng two segments further on. The single quotation marks belong to the edition, and what they enclose is the exact opposite of what he actually said to her.
"When the queen heard that she gave up all thought of it, and only then did she order me to come and invite you."
沒了想頭 is to have nothing left to hope for. The lie explains a change of heart by removing the alternative — which is the one explanation a man in the demon's position would find entirely credible, because it is the one he has been afraid of.
The fiend king was overjoyed: "You are a useful fellow after all.
中 is zhòng in 中用, to answer the purpose — useful. Nine characters exactly: a he-said folds forward into what follows only when it runs to eight or fewer and carries no statement of its own, and this one fails on both counts.
"When I have wiped out that country of his, I shall make you a Grand Steward in attendance at court."
為 is wéi, the making-into reading — to make you one — not the wèi of on behalf of. 太宰 is an ancient title for the chief minister of a royal household, and it is the only named office anybody is promised in this chapter.
The lie is an exact inversion of the truth. Wukong told her that her husband longs for her and that there is a way home; he tells the demon that he told her she has been replaced. Both accounts explain the same change of manner, and the demon has no way of preferring one over the other except by wanting to.
It is also the cruellest thing said in the chapter, and it is said about a woman standing a few rooms away who has just agreed to smile at her captor. Nobody in the scene notices. The demon hears that she has given up hope and is overjoyed.
And then the promotion. The courier on the empty road imagined ranks and offices high and low, and concluded that Heaven would not stand for it. The office is now offered by name, to his replacement, on condition that a kingdom is wiped out first — and it is promised to a man who does not exist.