虛禮謙恭 Ceremony And Humility
那道士換了一件衣服，虛禮謙恭，走將出去，請唐僧等又至客位坐下，道：「老師父莫怪。適間去後面吩咐小徒，教他們挑些青菜、蘿蔔，安排一頓素齋供養，所以失陪。」那道士换了一件衣服，虚礼谦恭，走将出去，请唐僧等又至客位坐下，道：「老师父莫怪。适间去后面吩咐小徒，教他们挑些青菜、萝卜，安排一顿素斋供养，所以失陪。」
逐句解 Line by line
The Daoist changed his gown, all ceremony and humility, and went out to invite the Tang Monk and the others back to the guest seats. "Venerable Master, do not take it amiss."
⚠ 虛禮 is the word to catch: hollow ceremony, courtesy with nothing behind it. The narrator is telling you the manners are fake in the same breath as he reports them, and nobody in the room can hear him. The change of gown is a nice touch too — he has been handling poison, and a fresh robe is what you put on to receive guests.
"I was just at the back telling my boys to pick a few greens and turnips and set out a vegetarian meal for you, which is why I left you."
The alibi is vegetables. 吩咐, to give instructions, wears its second syllable down to fu, and 蘿蔔, the turnip or daikon, does the same to bo — both are ordinary modern reductions and both are the only time each word appears in this chapter. 供養 takes 供 as gòng, the offering sense: feeding monks is a religious act with its own vocabulary, not merely catering. He is using the correct devout word for what he did not do.
He comes back in a clean robe with a story about vegetables, and every word of it is calculated. 虛禮謙恭 is the narrator's editorial, dropped in before the dialogue starts: hollow courtesy, performed humility. From here on the reader watches a man be charming while knowing exactly what is on the tray.
The alibi is well chosen because it is checkable and dull. Greens and turnips, a meatless meal, boys sent to fetch them — nothing there invites a follow-up question, and it explains both his absence and the delay still to come. A better lie would have been worse.
And he apologises for leaving them alone, which is the one thing he actually did do. 失陪 — I failed to keep you company — is the standard phrase for excusing yourself, and it is the second time in twenty minutes he has apologised for a lapse of hospitality he did not commit while committing a much larger one.