個紅桃子 I Shall Be the Red Peach
行者道：「你與他到園裡，走到桃樹邊，就莫走了。等我飛上桃枝，變作個紅桃子。你要吃果子，先揀紅的兒摘下來。紅的是我。行者道：「你与他到园里，走到桃树边，就莫走了。等我飞上桃枝，变作个红桃子。你要吃果子，先拣红的儿摘下来。红的是我。
逐句解 Line by line
Pilgrim said, "You go into the garden with her, and when you get to the peach trees, stop there."
The staging is precise and the peach tree is not an accident. Peaches are Pilgrim's own fruit — he stole and ate the peaches of immortality in chapter five, which is the crime that got him buried under a mountain.
"Wait while I fly up onto a peach branch and turn into a red peach."
Twelve characters, and the plan is stated. The transformation is smaller and simpler than the gnat, and this time it does not need a bubble to ride in on.
"You will want to eat some fruit; pick out a red one first and take it down."
The instruction is domestic and exact. 揀 is to pick out, to select from among several, and everything turns on Tripitaka doing the choosing visibly.
"The red one is me."
Four characters, and it is the flattest line in the passage. Pilgrim has explained the whole scheme and then adds the one fact that makes it work, as though it might otherwise be forgotten.
The peach is the right fruit for this and the novel knows it. Pilgrim's whole career began with peaches: he was made Guardian of the Immortal Peach Garden, ate the fruit that confers deathlessness, and was punished for it with five hundred years under a mountain. Now he is going to be a peach on a branch waiting to be picked.
The plan is also a considerable improvement on the last one. The gnat depended on timing, on foam, and on the fiend drinking promptly. This one depends on somebody wanting to eat a nice-looking peach.
And the last four characters are perfectly judged comedy. The red one is me.