該算頭功 That Should Count First Merit
這是一個報事的小妖，撞見老孫，卻先打死，挑回來報功。」國王大喜道：「好好好，該算頭功。寡人這裡常差人去打探，更不曾得個的實。似神僧一出，就捉了一個回來，真神通也。」叫：「看暖酒來，與長老賀功。」这是一个报事的小妖，撞见老孙，却先打死，挑回来报功。」国王大喜道：「好好好，该算头功。寡人这里常差人去打探，更不曾得个的实。似神僧一出，就捉了一个回来，真神通也。」叫：「看暖酒来，与长老贺功。」
逐句解 Line by line
"This is a little fiend carrying a despatch. He ran into Old Sun, so I killed him first and brought him back on my rod to report the merit."
挑 is tiǎo, the lifting reading, and this is its third appearance in the chapter — the jab, the flight home, and now the account of both. 卻先打死 puts the killing before the explanation in the sentence, exactly as it came in the event.
The king was greatly pleased: "Good, good, good — that should count as the first merit.
頭功 is the first merit of a campaign — the credit for drawing first blood. It is the phrase Wukong used to himself over the corpse, eight characters after he had lifted it onto his rod. The king now formally awards what Wukong had already privately claimed, and neither of them remarks on the coincidence.
"Here at home I have kept sending men out to spy, and never once got anything certain.
的 is dí in 的實, meaning certain or actual — the character's own full-bodied reading rather than the toneless word it has become in modern Chinese. The 1716 dictionary files it under a single entry and glosses it as real, and notes in passing that Song writers used a different character altogether for that toneless word: the grammatical word is the borrowed use and this is the original one. 差 is chāi, to send on an errand.
"The divine monk goes out once and comes straight back with one taken. That is divine power indeed."
似 is sì. The comparison is between fifty days of scouting that produced nothing and one sortie that produced a body, and the king draws it himself in sixteen characters.
He called out: "See that warm wine is brought, to congratulate the elder on his merit."
The third cup of the chapter, after the golden goblet flung into the air and the imperial cup set down undrunk. 長老 takes zhǎng again. Ten characters carrying their own he-said and closing their own quotation, so the unit stands on its own.
Merit is what this passage is about, and the word will not stop appearing — seven occurrences inside four hundred and twenty-three characters, across three claimants. Wukong awarded himself a first merit over the body on the mountain; Bajie claimed one with a rake; Wukong asked him what merit it was; and now the king formally awards it to the man who had already taken it.
The king's reason for being impressed is a comparison he is well placed to make. He has been sending men into that mountain for longer than he cares to say and has never once had anything certain back; a monk went out this morning and returned with a corpse. The arithmetic is his own and it is correct — and he does not know that the useful thing Wukong brought back is in the monk's sleeve rather than on the steps.
And the wine comes out again. Three cups now: one flung into the air, one set down undrunk, and this one ordered warmed. The king has still not found a way of thanking this man that survives contact with him.