Canonical Classics ← 第八十三回
第八十三回
xīnyuánshídāntóu
chàháiguīběnxìng

The Mind-Ape Knows the Elixir Head · The Fair Girl Returns to Her Original Nature

年方七歲
模式 Mode Read Study
拼音 Pinyin Off
字體 Script
原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

年方七歲 A Girl Of Seven Years

sānxiǎoérmíngzhāzàishēnbiānzǎowǎnsuícháojiàniánfāngsuìmíngzhēnyīngrénshìshàngwèishěngdehuìzuòyāojīngxìnbàochūláikànzhèhóutóuzhuóshísānxiǎoérmíngzhāzàishēnbiānzǎowǎnsuícháojiàniánfāngsuìmíngzhēnyīngrénshìshàngwèishěngdehuìzuòyāojīngxìnbàochūláikànzhèhóutóuzhuóshí


逐句解 Line by line

sānxiǎoérmíngzhāzàishēnbiānzǎowǎnsuícháojià sānxiǎoérmíngzhāzàishēnbiānzǎowǎnsuícháojià

my third boy is called Nezha, and is at my side, attending court morning and evening as a guard.

隨朝 keeps 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.

niánfāngsuìmíngzhēnyīngrénshìshàngwèishěngdehuìzuòyāojīng niánfāngsuìmíngzhēnyīngrénshìshàngwèishěngdehuìzuòyāojīng

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 does the work of only. 人事 is the business of the human world, what a child has not yet learned. is , the reading it takes after the adverb : has not yet come to understand.

xìnbàochūláikàn xìnbàochūláikàn

If you do not believe it, I will have her carried out for you to see.

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.

zhèhóutóuzhuóshí zhèhóutóuzhuóshí

This monkey head is downright insolent.

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.


總評 Commentary

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.