原文 Original text
繁體 Traditional
Reader's edition
三十個人 Thirty Names On My List
行者暗笑道：「也罷，我這批上有三十個人，都在這中前後，等我拘將來就你，便有一日耽閣。你可有盤纏？把些兒我去。」行者暗笑道：「也罢，我这批上有三十个人，都在这中前后，等我拘将来就你，便有一日耽阁。你可有盘缠？把些儿我去。」
逐句解 Line by line
行者暗笑道：「也罷，我這批上有三十個人，都在這中前後，等我拘將來就你，便有一日耽閣。
行者暗笑道：「也罢，我这批上有三十个人，都在这中前后，等我拘将来就你，便有一日耽阁。
Wukong laughed to himself and said: "Very well. I have thirty people on this warrant, all of them hereabouts. Let me collect them and bring them to you, and you may have your day's delay.
批 is the warrant, the written order. 中 reads zhōng in the locative phrase. 耽閣 — a hold-up, a postponement.
你可有盤纏？
你可有盘缠？
Have you any money for the road?
盤纏 — travelling money, the coin carried for a journey.
把些兒我去。」
把些儿我去。」
Give me a little and I will go."
些兒 — a little bit, with 兒 at ér.
This is the pivot from ghost story to shakedown, and Wukong executes it with no visible join. He accepts the argument, grants the day, and then asks for money — as though the delay were a favour with a fee attached. Anybody who has dealt with a small official will recognise the sequence exactly.
The thirty names are a nice touch of plausibility. A real summoner would have a list and a district; giving a number and saying they are all in the neighbourhood makes the excuse for the delay sound like scheduling rather than mercy. Wukong is improvising, and he is improvising in the register of a working bureaucrat.
And of course he is not asking about the money for its own sake. Sha Wujing's remark about the private hoard is what set this whole performance going, and every line since the false voice at the ear has been aimed at this question.