第七十三回 · 快去換茶 Go And Change The Tea — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

快去換茶 Go And Change The Tea

叫jiào：「童tóng兒ér，快kuài去qù換huàn茶chá來lái，一yì廂xiāng作zuò速sù辦bàn齋zhāi。」那nà小xiǎo童tóng走zǒu將jiāng進jìn去qù，眾zhòng女nǚ子zǐ招zhāo呼hū他tā來lái道dào：「這zhè裡lǐ有yǒu現xiàn成chéng好hǎo茶chá，拿ná出chū去qù。」那nà童tóng子zǐ果guǒ然rán將jiāng五wǔ鍾zhōng茶chá拿ná出chū。叫jiào：「童tóng儿ér，快kuài去qù换huàn茶chá来lái，一yì厢xiāng作zuò速sù办bàn斋zhāi。」那nà小xiǎo童tóng走zǒu将jiāng进jìn去qù，众zhòng女nǚ子zǐ招zhāo呼hū他tā来lái道dào：「这zhè里lǐ有yǒu现xiàn成chéng好hǎo茶chá，拿ná出chū去qù。」那nà童tóng子zǐ果guǒ然rán将jiāng五wǔ钟zhōng茶chá拿ná出chū。

逐句解 Line by line

叫jiào：「童tóng兒ér，快kuài去qù換huàn茶chá來lái，一yì廂xiāng作zuò速sù辦bàn齋zhāi。」叫jiào：「童tóng儿ér，快kuài去qù换huàn茶chá来lái，一yì厢xiāng作zuò速sù办bàn斋zhāi。」

He called out, "Boy! Go and change the tea, quickly — and get the meal seen to at the same time."

This is the signal, spoken in front of the four men it is aimed at. 換茶, change the tea, is one of the most ordinary things a host says: the first cup has gone cold, bring fresh. It also happens to be the exact code word he arranged with his sisters in the back room. Nobody at the table can hear the difference, and there is no difference to hear.

那nà小xiǎo童tóng走zǒu將jiāng進jìn去qù，眾zhòng女nǚ子zǐ招zhāo呼hū他tā來lái道dào：「這zhè裡lǐ有yǒu現xiàn成chéng好hǎo茶chá，拿ná出chū去qù。」那nà小xiǎo童tóng走zǒu将jiāng进jìn去qù，众zhòng女nǚ子zǐ招zhāo呼hū他tā来lái道dào：「这zhè里lǐ有yǒu现xiàn成chéng好hǎo茶chá，拿ná出chū去qù。」

The boy went in, and the women beckoned him over. "There is good tea ready here," they said. "Take it out."

現成 is ready-made, already prepared — and it is doing a great deal of quiet work. Of course the tea is ready. It has been ready for several passages. The women say it in the flat helpful tone of people saving a servant a job.

那nà童tóng子zǐ果guǒ然rán將jiāng五wǔ鍾zhōng茶chá拿ná出chū。那nà童tóng子zǐ果guǒ然rán将jiāng五wǔ钟zhōng茶chá拿ná出chū。

And sure enough, the boy carried out five cups of tea.

果然 — sure enough, just as arranged — is the narrator confirming the plan has executed, and it is the second time this chapter has used the word about a tray of tea. 童子 takes 子 as zǐ, the literary compound, where an ordinary noun like 盤子 would reduce it. Five cups again. The count has not changed and it is now on the table.

總評 Commentary

The most chilling three sentences in the chapter, and nothing happens in them. A host calls for fresh tea. A boy fetches it. The tea arrives. Every step is something that occurs in a million rooms a day, and the whole machinery of the murder is carried out in plain sight of the victims using nothing but ordinary domestic vocabulary.

The craft is in 現成. The women do not whisper, signal or hide anything; they tell the boy there is good tea already made and to take it out, which is true. The boy is not lied to. He is simply not told, and he has no reason to ask, and he becomes the instrument.

And 果然 — sure enough — is the narrator's dry little nod. The plan was laid out for us in full a few pages ago, down to the number of dates, and now we watch it work exactly as specified. The suspense is not whether the tea arrives. It is who reaches for which cup.