原文 Original text
繁體 Traditional
Reader's edition
追命繩 The Life Taking Cord
獃子慌了道：「長官不要索。我曉得你這繩兒叫做追命繩，索上就要斷氣。有有有，有便有些兒，只是不多。」呆子慌了道：「长官不要索。我晓得你这绳儿叫做追命绳，索上就要断气。有有有，有便有些儿，只是不多。」
逐句解 Line by line
獃子慌了道：「長官不要索。
呆子慌了道：「长官不要索。
The fool took fright: "Officer, do not rope me.
不要索 — the same character Wukong used as a verb a line earlier, handed straight back.
我曉得你這繩兒叫做追命繩，索上就要斷氣。
我晓得你这绳儿叫做追命绳，索上就要断气。
I know that cord of yours. It is called the life-taking cord, and the moment it is on, the breath goes.
追命繩 — the cord that pursues the life. 兒 keeps ér.
有有有，有便有些兒，只是不多。」
有有有，有便有些儿，只是不多。」
I have some, I have, I have — I have a little, only not much."
有有有 is tripled, then said again. The repetition is the sound of a man surrendering in stages.
The surrender is written as four separate admissions in a single line — I have, I have, I have, I have a little — and the effect is of resistance collapsing by instalments. He is not persuaded; he is worn through.
The detail that breaks him is the rope, and specifically that he knows what it is called. Wukong has invented an underworld office, a warrant and a quota, and Bajie has now furnished the equipment out of his own head. Frightened people help you build the story you are frightening them with.
The qualification at the end is pure Bajie. Yes, he has money; only not much. He is beginning the negotiation over the amount before he has finished conceding that there is any, and he will still be arguing about it two passages from now.