原文 Original text
繁體 Traditional
Reader's edition
下回分解 To Be Continued
咦!畢竟這去,不知那怪的吉凶如何,且聽下回分解。咦!毕竟这去,不知那怪的吉凶如何,且听下回分解。
逐句解 Line by line
咦!畢竟這去,不知那怪的吉凶如何,且聽下回分解。
咦!毕竟这去,不知那怪的吉凶如何,且听下回分解。
Ah! And in the end, going on from here, there is no telling whether those monsters will meet good fortune or ill: listen to the explanation in the next instalment.
咦 is a syllable rather than a word — the storyteller catching his breath before the sign-off. 分 is fēn and 解 is jiě: 下回分解, the explaining that gets divided out into the next session, is how every chapter of this book ends. It is a performer's line, kept in the written text long after the performance stopped.
Every chapter of this book ends on the same formula, and it is worth knowing what it is. The explaining will be divided out into the next session — the words of somebody standing in a market square who wants the crowd to come back tomorrow. The novel was assembled out of that tradition and never lost the habit.
What is unusual here is the question left hanging. Ordinarily the chapter ends wondering what will happen to the pilgrims. This one ends wondering what will happen to the monsters — whether the seven will meet good fortune or ill. They were spared, they ran, and the book is following them.