第八十三回 · 滿肚紅 Send Her A Bellyful Of Red — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

滿肚紅 Send Her A Bellyful Of Red

八bā戒jiè見jiàn他tā們men賭dǔ鬥dòu，口kǒu裡lǐ絮xù絮xù叨dāo叨dāo，返fǎn恨hèn行xíng者zhě，轉zhuǎn身shēn對duì沙shā僧sēng道dào：「兄xiōng弟dì，師shī兄xiōng胡hú纏chán。才cái子zi在zài他tā肚dù裡lǐ，掄lūn起qǐ拳quán來lái，送sòng他tā一yí個gè滿mǎn肚dù紅hóng，巴bā開kāi肚dù皮pí鑽zuān出chū來lái，卻què不bù了liǎo帳zhàng？八bā戒jiè见jiàn他tā们men赌dǔ斗dòu，口kǒu里lǐ絮xù絮xù叨dāo叨dāo，返fǎn恨hèn行xíng者zhě，转zhuǎn身shēn对duì沙shā僧sēng道dào：「兄xiōng弟dì，师shī兄xiōng胡hú缠chán。才cái子zi在zài他tā肚dù里lǐ，抡lūn起qǐ拳quán来lái，送sòng他tā一yí个gè满mǎn肚dù红hóng，巴bā开kāi肚dù皮pí钻zuān出chū来lái，却què不bù了liǎo帐zhàng？

逐句解 Line by line

八bā戒jiè見jiàn他tā們men賭dǔ鬥dòu，口kǒu裡lǐ絮xù絮xù叨dāo叨dāo，返fǎn恨hèn行xíng者zhě，轉zhuǎn身shēn對duì沙shā僧sēng道dào：「兄xiōng弟dì，師shī兄xiōng胡hú纏chán。八bā戒jiè见jiàn他tā们men赌dǔ斗dòu，口kǒu里lǐ絮xù絮xù叨dāo叨dāo，返fǎn恨hèn行xíng者zhě，转zhuǎn身shēn对duì沙shā僧sēng道dào：「兄xiōng弟dì，师shī兄xiōng胡hú缠chán。

Bajie watched the two of them going at it and began muttering away to himself, his temper turning against Pilgrim. He swung round to Sha Monk and said, "Brother, our elder brother is making a mess of this.

絮絮叨叨 is muttering on and on, and it is alive and well in modern Chinese for exactly this — someone grumbling under their breath who wants to be overheard. 胡纏 is to tangle things up pointlessly, to make a meal of it.

才cái子zi在zài他tā肚dù裡lǐ，掄lūn起qǐ拳quán來lái，送sòng他tā一yí個gè滿mǎn肚dù紅hóng，巴bā開kāi肚dù皮pí鑽zuān出chū來lái，卻què不bù了liǎo帳zhàng？才cái子zi在zài他tā肚dù里lǐ，抡lūn起qǐ拳quán来lái，送sòng他tā一yí个gè满mǎn肚dù红hóng，巴bā开kāi肚dù皮pí钻zuān出chū来lái，却què不bù了liǎo帐zhàng？

He was in her belly just now. He could have swung a fist, sent her a bellyful of red, torn the skin open and climbed out — and would that not have settled the account?

滿肚紅 — a bellyful of red — is Bajie's own coinage and entirely in character: gruesome, vivid, and delivered as though it were obvious. 才子 is not a talented scholar here but a colloquial just now, and 子 keeps its unstressed everyday zi. 了帳 is to close the books, settle up — a bookkeeping word doing duty for finishing someone off.

總評 Commentary

Bajie's complaint is that his brother had a clean kill and walked away from it. The reader knows the walk-away was deliberate. Bajie does not, and the novel is in no hurry to tell him.

The register is worth noticing. Bajie thinks in the vocabulary of accounts and butchery — settle up, a bellyful of red — while the verse a few lines above was thinking in yin and yang. Both are describing the same fight.