原文 Original text
繁體 Traditional
Reader's edition
異姓同居 Different Surnames Living Together
婦人笑道：「異姓。」行者道：「正是異姓同居：我們共有十個弟兄，我四個先來賃店房打火；妇人笑道：「异姓。」行者道：「正是异姓同居：我们共有十个弟兄，我四个先来赁店房打火；
逐句解 Line by line
婦人笑道：「異姓。」
妇人笑道：「异姓。」
The woman laughed: "Different surnames."
Two characters, and a second small probe. Brothers share a surname; these four do not, and she has noticed at once.
行者道：「正是異姓同居：我們共有十個弟兄，我四個先來賃店房打火；
行者道：「正是异姓同居：我们共有十个弟兄，我四个先来赁店房打火；
Pilgrim said: "Just so — different surnames living together. There are ten of us brothers all told, and we four have come on ahead to take rooms and get a fire lit;
異姓同居 is unrelated men sharing a household, and it was a real arrangement — sworn brotherhood, or partners in a trading firm living under one roof. Pilgrim turns her objection into his answer without pausing. 打火 is to light a fire, and at an inn it means to get a meal cooked.
Two probes, two deflections, and the second is the better one. She points at the hole in the story and he names the hole and gives it a respectable name.
It is also, unusually for a cover story, entirely true. They are four men of different surnames living together, bound by something other than blood, and travelling on a joint enterprise. He has described the pilgrimage accurately and she has heard a partnership.