賊臟一櫃 A Chest of Stolen Goods
只見那武班中閃出巡城總兵官，文班中走出東城兵馬使，當階叩頭道：「臣蒙聖旨巡城，夜來獲得賊臟一櫃、白馬一匹。微臣不敢擅專，請旨定奪。」國王大喜道：「連櫃取來。」只见那武班中闪出巡城总兵官，文班中走出东城兵马使，当阶叩头道：「臣蒙圣旨巡城，夜来获得贼脏一柜、白马一匹。微臣不敢擅专，请旨定夺。」国王大喜道：「连柜取来。」
逐句解 Line by line
Then from the military ranks stepped the commander of the city patrol, and from the civil ranks came the marshal of the eastern quarter. Bowing their heads at the foot of the steps, they said, "By Your Majesty's command we patrolled the city, and in the night we recovered a chest of stolen goods and one white horse.
Business, as it turns out, there is. The two officers come out of opposite files — one military, one civil — which is how a Ming court is physically arranged, and the novel is careful about it. 賊臟 is stolen property; the modern spelling keeps the first character and swaps the second for one built on the flesh radical. What they have recovered, and do not know they have recovered, is the four monks the court has just sworn to stop killing.
Your servants did not presume to decide the matter alone, and beg Your Majesty's ruling."
微臣 is "your insignificant servant", the self-shrinking first person an official uses to a throne — the exact counterpart of the king's 朕. 擅專 is acting on your own authority, which in this system is a charge rather than an initiative.
Greatly pleased, the king said, "Bring it here, chest and all."
連 marks the container as coming along with the contents — chest included, do not bother unpacking. He is delighted. He is about to be very surprised.
The novel sets its trap with a straight face. Two conscientious officers, a night patrol carried out exactly as ordered, a recovered chest, a proper request for instructions. Every step is correct and every step carries the pilgrims closer to a throne room that spent last night vowing to kill them.
The white horse is the giveaway to a reader and invisible to everyone on stage. It is listed flatly, one item beside another, in the register of recovered goods.