王小二店 The Inn of Wang the Second
他道：「這人家過元宵哩，怎麼挨排兒都點燈籠？」他硬硬翅，飛近前來，仔細觀看，正當中一家子，方燈籠上寫著「安歇往來商賈」六字，下面又寫著「王小二店」四字。他道：「这人家过元宵哩，怎么挨排儿都点灯笼？」他硬硬翅，飞近前来，仔细观看，正当中一家子，方灯笼上写着「安歇往来商贾」六字，下面又写着「王小二店」四字。
逐句解 Line by line
He said: "These people must be keeping the Lantern Festival. Why else would they all have lanterns lit in a row like this?"
元宵 is the fifteenth night of the first month, when Chinese cities hang lanterns everywhere — the one occasion when a whole street of lit lanterns needs no explanation. Pilgrim reaches for the festival first, which tells you he is thinking like a visitor and not yet like a burglar. 挨排兒 is one after another in a row.
He stiffened his wings and flew up close for a careful look. Right in the middle was one household with a square lantern, and on it six characters: Lodging for Merchants Coming and Going. Below that, four more: The Inn of Wang the Second.
The lantern is a shop sign, which answers his question. 賈 is gǔ, a merchant or trading, so 商賈 is the standing compound for traders — it is not the surname the character also writes, which would be a different reading altogether. In 一家子 the last character is the everyday zi, one household; and 仔 is zǐ in 仔細, careful. Wang the Second is Wang the second son, about as plain a name as Chinese offers.
The lanterns are not a festival, they are advertising. Pilgrim has flown into a street of inns and read the trade off the signboards, which is a piece of detective work done entirely by being the right size.
It matters that the sign says merchants. Everything Pilgrim does for the rest of this chapter depends on there being travelling traders in the city with clothes, headcloths and horses — and on four monks being able to pass for exactly that. The disguise has just been chosen for him by a lantern.