年方七歲 A Girl Of Seven Years
三小兒名哪吒,在我身邊,早晚隨朝護駕。一女年方七歲,名貞英,人事尚未省得,如何會做妖精?不信,抱出來你看。這猴頭著實無禮。三小儿名哪咤,在我身边,早晚随朝护驾。一女年方七岁,名贞英,人事尚未省得,如何会做妖精?不信,抱出来你看。这猴头着实无礼。
逐句解 Line by line
my third boy is called Nezha, and is at my side, attending court morning and evening as a guard.
隨朝 keeps 朝 at cháo, the court — attending court, not the zhāo of morning, even though the line does say morning and evening beside it. That near-miss is exactly why this character is watched.
My one daughter is a girl of just seven years, called Zhenying. She does not understand the affairs of people yet — how could she manage to be a fiend?
年方七歲 is aged just seven, and 方 does the work of only. 人事 is the business of the human world, what a child has not yet learned. 得 is dé, the reading it takes after the adverb 未: has not yet come to understand.
If you do not believe it, I will have her carried out for you to see.
抱 is to carry in the arms, and it is the detail that wins the argument. She is not fetched or summoned; she is small enough to be carried, and he offers to produce her like an exhibit.
This monkey head is downright insolent.
著 is zhuó in 著實, a fixed word meaning truly or downright — the lexical reading, quite separate from the zhe of ongoing action the same character has been carrying all through this scene.
The seven-year-old is the Heavenly King's best argument and he knows it. A daughter old enough to be a demon would need explaining; a daughter who has to be carried does not.
He is also, without realising it, telling the exact truth in a way that will not help him. He has one daughter by blood. The tablets in heaven were put up by somebody who is not one.