換了衣帽 He Changes His Robe and Hat
卻說老師父換了衣帽，拿了關文，徑至王府前。早見引禮官迎著問道：「長老何來？」却说老师父换了衣帽，拿了关文，径至王府前。早见引礼官迎着问道：「长老何来？」
逐句解 Line by line
Now the old master changed his robe and hat, took up the travel papers, and went straight to the front of the palace.
卻說 is the storyteller turning back to a thread he put down — the same formula that closed the last scene picks this one up. The change of clothes matters: Tripitaka has a set of vestments kept for exactly this, because presenting papers to a ruler is a formal occasion and he has done it in every kingdom on the road. 關文 is the rescript, the document from the Tang emperor that every court along the way has stamped.
At once a protocol officer came to meet him and asked, "Elder, from where have you come?"
引禮官 is the usher who conducts guests through the correct forms — the officer of protocol, and precisely the sort of post a properly staffed princely household would have. 著 is zhe here, marking the coming-to-meet as ongoing. The question is the same one the old man in the thicket asked, which is a small piece of shape in the chapter: two strangers, one on a road and one at a gate, opening with the identical words.
Everything about this entrance is procedural, and that is the point. Tripitaka does not appear on a cloud or announce himself; he changes into his good clothes, brings his paperwork, and walks up to the gate.
The protocol officer meeting him at the door is the first sign that Yuhua is a working government rather than a stage set. Nobody in the palace is surprised that a monk has arrived and nobody has to be found to deal with him.