下回分解 To Be Continued
畢竟不知那總兵官奪下櫃裡賊贓如何,與唐僧四眾的性命如何,且聽下回分解。毕竟不知那总兵官夺下柜里贼赃如何,与唐僧四众的性命如何,且听下回分解。
逐句解 Line by line
And in the end there is no knowing what the commander did about the stolen goods in the chest he had taken back, nor what became of the lives of the Tang Monk and his three disciples. Listen to the explanation in the next chapter.
The standing close of every chapter in the novel, and it is a performer's formula rather than a writer's — the storyteller breaking off at the point of greatest interest and promising the rest next time. 賊贓 is stolen goods, which is what the four of them now legally are: the chest is impounded evidence and they are inside it. 分解 is to separate out and explain.
The chapter ends with the pilgrims still locked in a box under official band, listed as recovered stolen property, due to be opened in front of a king. Nothing about their situation has improved since they were carried out of the inn yard.
But everything else has changed, and they do not know it. While Tripitaka was reproaching Pilgrim in the dark, the kingdom that kills monks acquired a government of monks. The chest will be opened in the morning by a court that can no longer tell the difference.