只等寺院 Half a Month of Feasting
一日筵，二日宴；今日酬，明日謝。扳留將有半月，只等寺院生祠完備。一日筵，二日宴；今日酬，明日谢。扳留将有半月，只等寺院生祠完备。
逐句解 Line by line
One day a feast, the next day a banquet;
Two three-character clauses, perfectly matched. The novel is describing a fortnight of hospitality in the rhythm of a nursery rhyme.
today a thanksgiving, tomorrow another round of thanks.
The pattern tightens from three characters to two per clause — the days speeding up as they blur together. It is a small piece of technical craft that survives translation badly and is worth pointing at.
They were held back for nearly half a month, only waiting for the monastery and the living shrine to be finished.
扳 is read pān here — the character is standing in for the word meaning to cling to and detain, the thing one does to a departing guest. 將有半月, getting on for half a month. Tripitaka said a day or two.
One day a feast, the next a banquet, today a thanksgiving, tomorrow another. The prose shortens its own clauses as it goes, so the fortnight speeds up and runs together on the page.
Tripitaka said within a day or two we shall certainly be gone. It has been fifteen days. The novel does not comment, and does not need to — the verb it uses for what the prefect is doing means clinging on to someone who is trying to leave.