第七十五回 · 心中歡喜 Walking In Wearing A Dead Face — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

心中歡喜 Walking In Wearing A Dead Face

行xíng者zhě見jiàn了le，心xīn中zhōng歡huān喜xǐ，一yì些xiē兒ér不bú怕pà，大dà踏tà步bù徑jìng直zhí進jìn門mén，把bǎ梆bāng鈴líng卸xiè下xià，朝cháo上shàng叫jiào聲shēng：「大dà王wáng。」三sān個gè老lǎo魔mó笑xiào呵hē呵hē問wèn道dào：「小xiǎo鑽zuān風fēng，你nǐ來lái了le？」行xíng者zhě應yìng聲shēng道dào：「來lái了le。」「你nǐ去qù巡xún山shān，打dǎ聽tīng孫sūn行xíng者zhě的de下xià落luò何hé如rú？」行xíng者zhě见jiàn了le，心xīn中zhōng欢huān喜xǐ，一yì些xiē儿ér不bú怕pà，大dà踏tà步bù径jìng直zhí进jìn门mén，把bǎ梆bāng铃líng卸xiè下xià，朝cháo上shàng叫jiào声shēng：「大dà王wáng。」三sān个gè老lǎo魔mó笑xiào呵hē呵hē问wèn道dào：「小xiǎo钻zuān风fēng，你nǐ来lái了le？」行xíng者zhě应yìng声shēng道dào：「来lái了le。」「你nǐ去qù巡xún山shān，打dǎ听tīng孙sūn行xíng者zhě的de下xià落luò何hé如rú？」

逐句解 Line by line

行xíng者zhě見jiàn了le，心xīn中zhōng歡huān喜xǐ，一yì些xiē兒ér不bú怕pà，大dà踏tà步bù徑jìng直zhí進jìn門mén，把bǎ梆bāng鈴líng卸xiè下xià，朝cháo上shàng叫jiào聲shēng：「大dà王wáng。」行xíng者zhě见jiàn了le，心xīn中zhōng欢huān喜xǐ，一yì些xiē儿ér不bú怕pà，大dà踏tà步bù径jìng直zhí进jìn门mén，把bǎ梆bāng铃líng卸xiè下xià，朝cháo上shàng叫jiào声shēng：「大dà王wáng。」

Wukong took it all in, delighted at heart, not a scrap afraid, and marched straight in with a long stride, unslung his clapper and bell, and called up the hall: "Great King!"

心中歡喜 — delighted — is a startling reaction to a hall full of armed demons, and the book means it. 梆鈴 bāng líng is the wooden clapper and bell a patrolling scout carried to sound his rounds; Wukong took them off the scout he killed in the last chapter, and unslinging them here is a small gesture of a man reporting off duty.

三sān個gè老lǎo魔mó笑xiào呵hē呵hē問wèn道dào：「小xiǎo鑽zuān風fēng，你nǐ來lái了le？」三sān个gè老lǎo魔mó笑xiào呵hē呵hē问wèn道dào：「小xiǎo钻zuān风fēng，你nǐ来lái了le？」

The three old fiends asked with a laugh, "Little Bore-Wind! You're back?"

小鑽風 — Little Bore-Wind — is the dead scout's name and the office as well, the demon equivalent of being called by your job title. 鑽 here is zuān, to bore through, the verb reading, and it is the same character that stands in this chapter's own title: 心猿鑽透陰陽體, the Mind-Monkey bores through the body of yin and yang. Remember that the disguise Wukong is wearing has boring in its name. The chapter will collect on that.

行xíng者zhě應yìng聲shēng道dào：「來lái了le。」行xíng者zhě应yìng声shēng道dào：「来lái了le。」

Wukong answered up, "I'm back."

應 is yìng, to answer — not yīng, ought to. The sealed chapters give yìng at all four 應聲 sites, three of them in the previous chapter, where Wukong was answering to this same false name in the dark.

「你nǐ去qù巡xún山shān，打dǎ聽tīng孫sūn行xíng者zhě的de下xià落luò何hé如rú？」「你nǐ去qù巡xún山shān，打dǎ听tīng孙sūn行xíng者zhě的de下xià落luò何hé如rú？」

"You went out on patrol — what did you learn of Sun Wukong's whereabouts?"

No attribution, because none is needed: the three of them have just spoken as one and the question runs straight on. Note what they are asking. They have sent a scout out specifically to find Sun Wukong, and they are now asking Sun Wukong how the search went.

總評 Commentary

This is the novel's favourite kind of scene and it is worth naming the shape: the hero walks into the enemy's council wearing the enemy's uniform and gives a report. What makes it work here is the detail of the clapper and bell. Wukong does not just look like the scout, he does the small physical business the scout would do on coming in off a shift, and that is what sells a disguise — not the face, the routine. He is entitled to them. He ground the scout's head to pulp for this badge last chapter, and then stood over the body feeling wretched about it, because the creature had been friendly and talkative and had told him everything he needed.

一些兒不怕, not a scrap afraid, is the line the chapter title is quietly built on. The Mind-Monkey is the heart, and a heart walking into a hundred spears without flinching is the state the chapter wants to test. It will spend the next several thousand characters testing it fairly hard.