掃蕩乾淨 Swept Away Root And Branch
我午間去時，撞見一個青臉紅毛的小妖送請書，我看他帖子上寫著：『明辰敬治餚酌，慶釘鈀嘉會，屈尊過山一敘。幸勿外，至感。右啟祖翁九靈元聖老大人尊前。』名字是『門下孫黃獅頓首百拜』。才子那妖精敗陣，必然向他祖翁處去會話，明辰斷然尋我們報仇，當情與你掃蕩乾淨。」老王稱謝了，擺上晚齋。師徒們齋畢，各歸寢處不題。我午间去时，撞见一个青脸红毛的小妖送请书，我看他帖子上写着：『明辰敬治肴酌，庆钉钯嘉会，屈尊过山一叙。幸勿外，至感。右启祖翁九灵元圣老大人尊前。』名字是『门下孙黄狮顿首百拜』。才子那妖精败阵，必然向他祖翁处去会话，明辰断然寻我们报仇，当情与你扫荡干净。」老王称谢了，摆上晚斋。师徒们斋毕，各归寝处不题。
逐句解 Line by line
"When I went out at midday I ran into a little fiend with a blue face and red hair carrying an invitation, and I saw written on his card: Tomorrow morning I respectfully set out meats and wine, to celebrate the goodly Rake Banquet, and beg you to stoop to cross the hills for a gathering.
著 is zhe, the reading for a state that holds — the words stand written on the card. Pilgrim now quotes the whole document from memory, and the novel prints it a second time in full rather than summarising, which is how we know the quotation is exact.
"Do not hold me a stranger. With deepest feeling.
The polite closing formulas, repeated word for word. Pilgrim read this card once, in a road, in a hurry.
"Addressed with respect to the presence of my venerable grandsire, the Nine-Spirit Primal Sage, most honoured elder.
The name lands in front of the prince for the first time. He has already been told a golden-haired lion escaped south-east; now he learns the lion has a grandfather.
"And the name was: From your disciple and grandson, Yellow Lion, who knocks his head and bows a hundred times.
The signature, quoted for the third time in this chapter. The novel is making sure nobody misses that the monster has family and manners.
"Just now that fiend lost the field, so he must certainly have gone off to his grandsire's place to talk it over. Tomorrow morning he will certainly come looking for revenge on us, and I will gladly sweep them clean away for you."
乾 takes gān, the clean reading rather than the trigram one. 才子 is a Yuan-Ming way of saying just now, standing where 適才 stands earlier in this chapter — not the modern sense of a gifted young man. Four other chapters use it the same way. And Pilgrim has now predicted the next chapter correctly, including the timing.
The old prince gave his thanks, and had the evening meal set out.
Nine graphs. Whatever he still thinks about all this, he feeds them.
Master and disciples finished their meal, and each went to his rest — of which no more.
不題, of which no more, is the storyteller putting a thread down to pick another up. The very next line begins somewhere else entirely.
Pilgrim recites the whole invitation from memory, and the novel prints every formula of it again rather than telling us he did. That repetition is not padding: the document is the hinge of the plot, and its second appearance puts the grandfather's name in front of the people who will have to live next door to him.
The prediction he makes is exact. The monster has gone to his grandfather, he will come back for revenge, and it will happen tomorrow morning. All of it proves right, and none of it is comforting, because the one thing Pilgrim does not know is what a Nine-Spirit Primal Sage actually is.
The chapter's last domestic gesture is the old prince ordering supper. He has been told that a burnt-out monster with powerful relations will arrive at dawn, and he thanks his guests and feeds them. There is something very steady about him, and the novel likes him for it.