摘了個紅桃 She Picks the Green One
即向前伸手摘了個紅桃。妖精也去摘了一個青桃。三藏躬身將紅桃捧與妖怪道：「娘子，你愛色，請吃這個紅桃，拿青的來我吃。」即向前伸手摘了个红桃。妖精也去摘了一个青桃。三藏躬身将红桃捧与妖怪道：「娘子，你爱色，请吃这个红桃，拿青的来我吃。」
逐句解 Line by line
He stepped forward at once, put out his hand and picked a red peach.
Ten characters, and no hesitation is described. He does exactly what he was told, in order, without a word.
The fiend went and picked one too — a green one.
The detail that makes the plan necessary. Left to herself she takes the unripe one, which is why Tripitaka has to intervene, and which the next passage turns into a courtesy.
Tripitaka bowed and held out the red peach to the fiend with both hands. "Madam, you love fine colour — please eat this red one, and give me the green to eat."
The staging is all deference. 躬身 is to bend the body in a bow and 捧 is to hold up in both palms, the gesture for presenting something to a superior. And 愛色 — you love colour — is a compliment with a second edge, since the phrase can also mean a fondness for beauty in people.
The whole plan comes down to a piece of table manners. He offers her the better-looking fruit, with a bow, in both hands, and she cannot refuse without being rude to a guest she is trying to marry.
It is the third time in this chapter that courtesy has been the weapon. Pilgrim used it on the two water-carriers, Tripitaka used it to get himself into the garden, and now a bow and a compliment put a monkey into a fiend's stomach.
The compliment is nicely poised too. Telling a woman she loves fine colour is a remark about her taste in fruit and a remark about her appetites, and Tripitaka — who has spent the chapter refusing to say anything at all — has learned to say two things at once.