萬花店放鯉 Releasing the Carp at the Myriad Flowers Inn
在路數日，前至萬花店劉小二家安下。張氏身體忽然染病，與光蕊道：「我身上不安，且在店中調養兩日再去。」光蕊遵命。至次日早晨，見店門前有一人提著個金色鯉魚叫賣，光蕊即將一貫錢買了。欲待烹與母親吃，只見鯉魚閃閃䁪眼。光蕊驚異道：「聞說魚蛇䁪眼，必不是等閑之物。」遂問漁人道：「這魚那裡打來的？」漁人道：「離府十五里洪江內打來的。」光蕊就把魚送在洪江裡去放了生，回店對母親道知此事。張氏道：「放生好事，我心甚喜。」光蕊道：「此店已住三日了，欽限緊急，孩兒意欲明日起身，不知母親身體好否？」張氏道：「我身子不快，此時路上炎熱，恐添疾病。你可這裡賃間房屋，與我暫住，付些盤纏在此。你兩口兒先上任去，候秋涼卻來接我。」光蕊與妻商議，就租了屋宇，付了盤纏與母親，同妻拜辭前去。在路数日，前至万花店刘小二家安下。张氏身体忽然染病，与光蕊道：「我身上不安，且在店中调养两日再去。」光蕊遵命。至次日早晨，见店门前有一人提着个金色鲤鱼叫卖，光蕊即将一贯钱买了。欲待烹与母亲吃，只见鲤鱼闪闪䁪眼。光蕊惊异道：「闻说鱼蛇䁪眼，必不是等闲之物。」遂问渔人道：「这鱼那里打来的？」渔人道：「离府十五里洪江内打来的。」光蕊就把鱼送在洪江里去放了生，回店对母亲道知此事。张氏道：「放生好事，我心甚喜。」光蕊道：「此店已住三日了，钦限紧急，孩儿意欲明日起身，不知母亲身体好否？」张氏道：「我身子不快，此时路上炎热，恐添疾病。你可这里赁间房屋，与我暂住，付些盘缠在此。你两口儿先上任去，候秋凉却来接我。」光蕊与妻商议，就租了屋宇，付了盘缠与母亲，同妻拜辞前去。
逐句解 Line by line
After some days on the road they came to lodge at the house of Liu the Second, at the Myriad Flowers Inn.
They stop at the 萬花店, the Myriad Flowers Inn, kept by one Liu the Second; 安下 is simply to put up for the night. Fix the name in your mind. Half the chapter comes back to this inn.
Madam Zhang suddenly fell ill, and said to Guangrui:
染病, literally to be dyed with sickness. Her timing looks like plain bad luck. It saves her life.
'I am unwell; let us rest and recover at the inn a day or two before going on.'
調養 is to recuperate by regulating things — food, rest, medicine — with 調 as tiáo, to tune or adjust, rather than the diào of transferring a person or a post.
Guangrui obeyed.
遵命, he complies. Four characters, no argument.
Next morning he saw before the inn a man holding up a golden carp and crying it for sale,
A man at the inn door with a golden carp for sale, and the whole chapter turns on him. 提著, holding it up, takes 著 as zhe, the reading that marks an action still under way.
and Guangrui bought it for a string of cash.
一貫 is a string of cash: coins were pierced and threaded, and a string nominally held a thousand of them. He does not haggle. 將 here is jiāng, the word that takes hold of an object so the verb can do something with it.
Meaning to cook it for his mother, he noticed that the carp kept blinking its eyes.
He is about to cook it for his mother when it blinks at him. The character is 䁪, zhǎ, to blink, standing in for the ordinary 眨. It is rare enough to need special font support to appear at all on the simplified view. If it shows as an empty box on your screen, that is why.
Astonished, Guangrui said, 'I have heard that a fish or serpent which blinks is surely no common creature.'
聞說, I have heard it said — he is quoting folk knowledge rather than judging for himself. A fish or a snake that blinks is 等閑之物 no longer: not an ordinary thing. 䁪 is again zhǎ.
He then asked the fisherman, 'Where was this fish caught?'
那裡 here is the question word, where, with 那 read nǎ. Older texts use 那 for what modern Chinese writes 哪, so one character does duty for both that and which — context alone tells you which reading you are looking at.
The fisherman said, 'It was taken from the Hong River, fifteen li from the prefecture.'
洪江, the Hong River, fifteen li from the prefecture. Remember the name. It is the water he is about to be murdered in, and the water that will keep him.
Guangrui took the fish and released it alive into the Hong River, then returned to the inn and told his mother of it.
放生, releasing a living creature, is a real and still-current Buddhist practice rather than a literary flourish: you buy an animal bound for the pot and let it go, and the merit is yours. Temples still organise releases today. This one pays out with interest.
Madam Zhang said, 'To set a creature free is a good deed; my heart is glad of it.'
甚喜, greatly pleased. The mother approves the merit. Neither of them has the faintest idea what they have just bought.
Guangrui said, 'We have stayed three days at this inn; the term set me is pressing, and your son means to set out tomorrow — but I do not know whether you are well enough?'
欽限 is the deadline again, now with the imperial prefix: a term set by the throne rather than by a clerk. Three days are gone already, and it is the schedule that forces the split about to happen.
Madam Zhang said, 'I am out of sorts; the road just now is fiercely hot, and I fear it would add to my sickness.'
身子 is the body, and here 子 is the light unstressed zi that rounds off a two-syllable word, not the full zǐ that means son. The chapter runs both readings constantly, and the difference is worth training your ear on.
'You might rent a room here for me to stay a while, and leave some money with me for expenses.'
賃, to rent. 盤纏 is travelling money, the coin you wound about your person for a journey — and it comes back, painfully, when we return to find out how she has been living.
'You two go on ahead to take up the post, and come back to fetch me when the autumn cool comes.'
兩口兒, the two mouths, is still the ordinary colloquial Chinese for a married couple. She sends them ahead and asks to be collected when the weather cools. Nobody comes in autumn.
Guangrui took counsel with his wife, rented a lodging, left money with his mother, and with his wife took his leave and went on.
屋宇, a dwelling. He rents it, leaves her money, bows and goes; his mother will not see him again until the closing passages of the chapter.
A man buys a fish and lets it go. That is the entire event, and nearly everything good in the rest of the chapter grows out of it. 放生, releasing a captive creature, is a live Buddhist practice, not a literary flourish — you buy an animal on its way to the pot and set it loose, and the merit is credited to you. Guangrui does it because the fish blinks at him and he knows enough folklore to read the sign. He has no idea he is buying insurance.
The fish is the Dragon King of the Hong River. He will keep Guangrui's body from decay for eighteen years and then hand back his life. The novel enjoys this kind of accounting — a small kindness entered in a ledger, quietly drawing interest, paid out at the exact moment it is needed — and here it is running the entire plot.
The other hinge is an illness. Madam Zhang falls sick and must be left behind at the inn, which is the only reason she is not on the boat at the ford. The delay that looks like an inconvenience is what keeps her alive, and it also sets up the long wait the middle of the chapter comes back to. One thing worth noticing on the page itself: 䁪, zhǎ, the character for blinking, is rare enough to need special font support to render on the simplified view.