變塊銀子 Turn a Tile to Silver
說我們是十弟兄，我四個先來賃店房賣馬。那店家必然款待我們，我們受用了，臨行時，等我拾塊瓦查兒，變塊銀子謝他，卻就走路。」長老無奈，只得曲從。说我们是十弟兄，我四个先来赁店房卖马。那店家必然款待我们，我们受用了，临行时，等我拾块瓦查儿，变块银子谢他，却就走路。」长老无奈，只得曲从。
逐句解 Line by line
Say we are ten brothers, and that we four have come on ahead to rent rooms and sell horses.
賃 is to rent, and it is the word a traveller would actually use at an inn desk. The six imaginary brothers exist so that the four real ones look like an advance party rather than the whole of anything.
The innkeeper is bound to treat us well; we shall enjoy it, and when we leave I shall pick up a bit of broken tile, turn it into a lump of silver to thank him with, and off we go."
瓦查兒 is a shard of broken roof tile. The trick of turning rubbish into money is old and disreputable, and its point is that the silver does not last — which Pilgrim does not mention. 受用 is to enjoy the benefit of something, and it is what Bajie has been waiting to hear all chapter.
The elder had no help for it and gave way.
只得 takes dé, the reading after an adverb of compulsion — had no choice but to. 曲從 is to bend and comply, to go along with something against your judgement, and it is not a flattering phrase.
Pilgrim has just told his master, out loud, that he intends to defraud the innkeeper with counterfeit silver, and Tripitaka bends and complies. It is the second thing this passage does that the pilgrimage is not supposed to permit.
The novel marks it. Not agreed, not consented — bent and complied, a phrase that carries the sense of yielding to something you know is wrong. Two characters of narration, and the whole moral weather of the chapter is in them.