原文 Original text
繁體 Traditional
Reader's edition
五錢銀子
Five Mace Of Silver
行者道：「在那裡？快拿出來。」八戒道：「可憐，可憐，我自做了和尚，到如今，有些善信的人家齋僧，見我食腸大，襯錢比他們略多些兒，我拿了攢在這裡，零零碎碎有五錢銀子。行者道：「在那里？快拿出来。」八戒道：「可怜，可怜，我自做了和尚，到如今，有些善信的人家斋僧，见我食肠大，衬钱比他们略多些儿，我拿了攒在这里，零零碎碎有五钱银子。
逐句解 Line by line
行者道：「在那裡？
行者道：「在那里？
Wukong said: "Where is it?
那 reads nǎ, the questioning band.
快拿出來。」
快拿出来。」
Bring it out, quickly."
快拿出來 — four characters, no courtesy left in them.
八戒道：「可憐，可憐，我自做了和尚，到如今，有些善信的人家齋僧，見我食腸大，襯錢比他們略多些兒，我拿了攢在這裡，零零碎碎有五錢銀子。
八戒道：「可怜，可怜，我自做了和尚，到如今，有些善信的人家斋僧，见我食肠大，衬钱比他们略多些儿，我拿了攒在这里，零零碎碎有五钱银子。
Bajie said: "Have pity, have pity. Ever since I became a monk down to this day, when devout families have given a meal to the monks, they have seen what a large stomach I have and given me rather more of the offering money than the others. I took it and put it by here, and in odds and ends it comes to five mace of silver.
攢 reads zǎn again, to put by. 襯錢 is the cash offering laid beside a donated meal. 錢 as a weight is a mace, a tenth of a tael — so five of them are half a tael.
總評 Commentary
The confession is a small autobiography and it is unexpectedly sad. The money came from lay families feeding the monks, who looked at Bajie, saw the size of him, and gave him a bigger share. His entire fortune is made of other people's amusement at his appetite.
Five mace is half a tael of silver, a real but modest sum, and it has taken him the whole journey to gather. The novel gives the exact figure because the exactness is the joke and the pathos at once: this is a hoard measured in odds and ends.
And note that Wukong now has his answer. Sha Wujing's rumour was true, the amount is trivial, and the fright has worked. Everything after this is Wukong extending the performance because he is enjoying it.