原文 Original text
繁體 Traditional
Reader's edition
到交秋時 When Autumn Comes Around
如今炎天，雖沒甚買賣，到交秋時，還做不了的生意哩，你嗟嘆怎麼？」婦人道：「兒啊，不是愁沒買賣。如今炎天，虽没甚买卖，到交秋时，还做不了的生意哩，你嗟叹怎么？」妇人道：「儿啊，不是愁没买卖。
逐句解 Line by line
如今炎天，雖沒甚買賣，到交秋時，還做不了的生意哩，你嗟嘆怎麼？」
如今炎天，虽没甚买卖，到交秋时，还做不了的生意哩，你嗟叹怎么？」
It is high summer now, and though there is little trade, when autumn comes round there will be more business than we can get through. What are you sighing for?"
甚 is shén, the bare interrogative — hardly any trade. And 了 is liǎo, to finish: 做不了 is more than can be worked through, not the light le. 交秋 is the turn into autumn, when the roads dry and the traders move again.
婦人道：「兒啊，不是愁沒買賣。
妇人道：「儿啊，不是愁没买卖。
The woman said: "Child, it is not want of business that worries me.
兒 here is a mother addressing her daughter, and it takes ér like every other instance in this chapter. 愁 is to fret over something, a heavier word than to worry.
The daughter has misdiagnosed the sigh, which is what lets the older woman explain the real problem and put the whole plot in her daughter's hands.
It is also a rather good piece of business sense from someone the novel gives no name to. Summer is slack, autumn is busy, and a bad Tuesday is not worth a sigh. She is right about everything except what her mother is sighing about.