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

原告也去
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字體 Script
原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

原告也去 The Accuser Goes Too

yòufēnfu:「yuángào。」xíngzhědào:「lǎosūn?」tiānshīdào:「wànsuìchūlezhǐtóngjīnxīnglái。」xíngzhězhēnsuízhejīnxīngzòngyúntóuzǎozhìyúnlóugōngyòufēnfu:「yuángào。」xíngzhědào:「lǎosūn?」tiānshīdào:「wànsuìchūlezhǐtóngjīnxīnglái。」xíngzhězhēnsuízhejīnxīngzòngyúntóuzǎozhìyúnlóugōng


逐句解 Line by line

yòufēnfu:「yuángào。」 yòufēnfu:「yuángào。」

The Jade Emperor gave a further instruction: "The accuser goes too."

原告 is the plaintiff, the party who brought the case, and it is still the legal term. Four characters of imperial speech, and they are the ones that put Pilgrim in a room with the man he is accusing.

xíngzhědào:「lǎosūn?」 xíngzhědào:「lǎosūn?」

Pilgrim said, "Old Monkey goes as well?"

The nerve deserts him for exactly one line. He wanted a summons issued; he did not expect to have to be there when it was served.

tiānshīdào:「wànsuìchūlezhǐtóngjīnxīnglái。」 tiānshīdào:「wànsuìchūlezhǐtóngjīnxīnglái。」

The four Celestial Masters said, "His Majesty has issued the edict. You may go along with the Gold Star."

萬歲 is ten thousand years, the standing form of address for an emperor and, by extension, a way of referring to him. The Celestial Masters answer him the way a clerk answers anybody: the order has been made, so there is nothing to discuss.

xíngzhězhēnsuízhejīnxīngzòngyúntóuzǎozhìyúnlóugōng xíngzhězhēnsuízhejīnxīngzòngyúntóuzǎozhìyúnlóugōng

Pilgrim did indeed follow the Gold Star. They rode the cloud head and were soon at the Cloud Tower Palace.

is zhe, following and going on following — Pilgrim trailing along behind a senior official, which is not a formation this novel puts him in very often.


總評 Commentary

One four-character order changes the whole shape of the chapter. Pilgrim had planned to start a process and watch it work; instead he has to walk into the accused man's house beside the officer serving the summons.

His one moment of hesitation is worth more than a paragraph of characterisation. He will face anything with a weapon in it, and he balks at an awkward conversation.