分文不受 Not A Single Copper
遂拿出兩盤散金碎銀,奉為路費。唐僧堅辭,分文不受。國王無已,命擺鑾駕,請唐僧端坐鳳輦龍車,王與嬪后,俱推輪轉轂,方送出朝。遂拿出两盘散金碎银,奉为路费。唐僧坚辞,分文不受。国王无已,命摆銮驾,请唐僧端坐凤辇龙车,王与嫔后,俱推轮转毂,方送出朝。
逐句解 Line by line
Then he brought out two trays of loose gold and broken silver and offered them for travelling expenses.
散金碎銀, loose gold and broken silver — bullion cut into pieces, which is how money actually moved in Ming China. Silver was weighed, not counted.
The Tang Monk firmly declined and would not take a single copper.
分文不受 is a fixed phrase and still current: not accepting one 分 or one 文, the two smallest coins. It is Tripitaka who refuses, not Wukong, and this is the one thing in the chapter he does decisively.
The king, having no other course, ordered the imperial carriage made ready, invited the Tang Monk to sit in the phoenix chariot and dragon car, and with the queens and consorts pushed at the wheels and turned the hubs himself to see them out of the court.
推輪轉轂, pushing the wheels and turning the hubs, is a ceremonial act of extraordinary deference — the ruler physically shoving his guest's carriage. 轂 is the hub of a wheel. A king and his whole harem laying hands on the axle is as low as a Chinese monarch can be shown to go without kneeling.
The refusal of the money is the last of three refusals in the chapter. Wukong waved off the officers' thanks, then declined the wealth of the kingdom, and now Tripitaka will not take travelling expenses.
The king's response is to spend on ceremony what he could not spend on gold. If he cannot pay them he will push their carriage himself, with his queens, and the novel reports the image without deciding whether it is penance or another purchase.