在心，在心 Keep It in Mind, Keep It in Mind
這長老也喚醒八戒、沙僧，扣馬收拾，行者叫點燈來。那寺僧已先起來，安排茶湯點心，在後候敬。八戒歡喜，吃了一盤饝饝，把行李、馬匹牽出。三藏、行者對眾辭謝。老僧又向行者道：「悲切之事，在心，在心。」行者笑道：「謹領，謹領。我到城中，自能聆音而察理，見貌而辨色也。」那夥行商哄哄嚷嚷的，也一同上了大路。將有寅時，過了雞鳴關。至巳時，方見城垣。这长老也唤醒八戒、沙僧，扣马收拾，行者叫点灯来。那寺僧已先起来，安排茶汤点心，在后候敬。八戒欢喜，吃了一盘饝饝，把行李、马匹牵出。三藏、行者对众辞谢。老僧又向行者道：「悲切之事，在心，在心。」行者笑道：「谨领，谨领。我到城中，自能聆音而察理，见貌而辨色也。」那伙行商哄哄嚷嚷的，也一同上了大路。将有寅时，过了鸡鸣关。至巳时，方见城垣。
逐句解 Line by line
The elder woke Eight Rules and Sha Monk too, buckled the horse and got things together, and Pilgrim called for a lamp to be brought. The temple monks had already risen, and had tea, hot water and refreshments laid on in the back to wait upon them.
扣馬收拾 — buckled the horse and got things together. The novel gets four people out of bed and packed in four characters.
候敬 — waiting to serve. The monks were up first. Whatever the old abbot has been carrying, his house runs well, and the chapter keeps quietly noting it.
Eight Rules was delighted, ate a plate of steamed buns, and led out the baggage and the horse. Tripitaka and Pilgrim made their farewells to the company. The old monk said again to Pilgrim, "That grievous business — keep it in mind, keep it in mind."
饝饝 — steamed buns, written with a doubled character. Eight Rules is delighted about breakfast in a chapter where everyone else is thinking about something else.
在心，在心 — keep it in mind, twice over. The old monk said 辨明辨明 last night, also twice over. He is a man who repeats himself when it matters, and he has now used his last chance to say anything at all.
Pilgrim laughed and said, "I have it, I have it. When I reach the city I shall be able to hear the sound and judge the sense, see the face and tell the colour of it."
謹領，謹領 — I have it, I have it. Pilgrim answers a doubled phrase with a doubled phrase, which is either courtesy or mockery and is probably both.
聆音而察理，見貌而辨色 — hear the sound and judge the sense, see the face and tell the colour. A balanced pair of clauses, four beats each, and it is close to a set phrase for reading people accurately.
It is also a promise the chapter will keep. Pilgrim does exactly this, at the coloured tower, within about a thousand characters.
That crowd of merchants, in a hubbub of noise, all took to the high road together. It was getting on for the hour of the Tiger when they passed Cockcrow Pass, and at the hour of the Snake they first saw the city wall.
哄哄嚷嚷 — a hubbub of noise. Both halves are doubled, and the second pair needs correcting in the reading system: the base gives the two characters different readings although they are the same character doing the same job.
寅時 is the hour of the Tiger, roughly three to five in the morning, and 巳時 the hour of the Snake, roughly nine to eleven. The day is divided into twelve two-hour periods named for the same animals as the years.
So it took them about six hours. The centipede road that had stranded a yardful of traders is crossed in one sentence and never mentioned again.
The old monk gets one more line, and it is the same line twice: keep it in mind. He has no other move left. He cannot come with them, he cannot write to the king, and he has already broken his own silence to two strangers he met the night before. All he can do at the gate is repeat himself.
Pilgrim's answer is the more interesting half. He does not say he will help; he says he will be able to tell what is what — hear the sound and judge the sense, see the face and know it. That is a claim about perception, not about muscle, and it is the second time in this chapter that Pilgrim's real qualification turns out to be understanding rather than force.
And then the centipedes. A road so dangerous that trade stops on it every night gets crossed between two clock-hours in a single clause. The novel has already decided they are not the story, and it does not waste a sentence pretending otherwise.