千百兩黃金白銀 A Thousand Taels of Gold and Silver
八戒道：「送行必定有千百兩黃金白銀，我們也好買些人事回去。到我那丈人家，也再會親耍子兒去耶。」沙僧道：「二哥箝著口，休亂說，只憑大哥主張。」遂此將行李、馬匹，俱隨那些官到於丹墀下。國王見了，教請行者三位近前道：「汝等將關文拿上來，朕當用寶、花押，交付汝等，外多備盤纏，送你三位早去靈山見佛。若取經回來，還有重謝。留駙馬在此，勿得懸念。」八戒道：「送行必定有千百两黄金白银，我们也好买些人事回去。到我那丈人家，也再会亲耍子儿去耶。」沙僧道：「二哥箝着口，休乱说，只凭大哥主张。」遂此将行李、马匹，俱随那些官到于丹墀下。国王见了，教请行者三位近前道：「汝等将关文拿上来，朕当用宝、花押，交付汝等，外多备盘缠，送你三位早去灵山见佛。若取经回来，还有重谢。留驸马在此，勿得悬念。」
逐句解 Line by line
Eight Rules said, "Seeing us off there will certainly be a thousand taels of gold and silver, and we can buy a few presents to take back with us. When we get to my father-in-law's place we can go and be family and lark about again."
Eight Rules has understood the situation completely and drawn the one conclusion nobody else would. 兩 is the tael, the standing Chinese weight for silver, and the word is left as the English borrowing rather than converted to anything. 人事 here is not human affairs but the presents you bring back from a journey — still what the word means in this sense. And 丈人家 is Gao Village, where he was married to a farmer's daughter and thrown out of the house in Chapter 18. He has mentioned it once before in the whole novel outside those chapters. He has not let it go.
Sha Monk said, "Second brother, keep your mouth shut and stop talking nonsense. Leave it all to the eldest brother's judgement."
Sha Monk's third and last line in this chapter, and it is the third time he tells Eight Rules to be quiet. 箝著口 is to clamp the mouth as with a pair of tongs — the same gesture Tripitaka reached for two nights ago when he told him to keep his tongue clamped.
So they took the luggage and the horse and followed the officers down to the vermilion steps. The king, seeing them, had Pilgrim and the two others called forward and said, "Bring up your travel rescript, and we shall apply the seal and our signature and hand it back to you, and provide besides a good deal of travelling money, to send you three off early to Vulture Peak to see the Buddha.
The 丹墀 is the vermilion-painted terrace before an audience hall, and standing on it is the closest a commoner came to the throne. The novel uses it in eight chapters and always at this moment, the formal reception. 用寶 is to apply the imperial seal and 花押 is the flourished personal mark a man used as a signature. The whole errand of the last two chapters, finally being done.
"If you come back with the scriptures there will be a handsome reward besides. Leave the Prince Consort here and give it no anxious thought."
The king is being generous and he is buying them off, and both things are true at once. 勿得懸念 — give it no anxious thought — is a formula of reassurance, and it means stop worrying about him. Said to three men whose entire assignment is worrying about him.
The formal expulsion, conducted with perfect courtesy and a great deal of money. Nobody raises a voice. The papers are stamped, the gift is offered, and the men who came to protect the groom are thanked and sent to Vulture Peak.
Eight Rules's contribution is to work out in advance how much the pay-off will be, and he is close. It is the second time in this chapter that he has been crass and useful in the same breath — the first got them into the garden. Here his greed is the reason the scene can be played as a farewell rather than a fight.
The king's last line is the one that lands. Leave the Prince Consort here and do not think anxiously about him. It is the exact opposite of what the whole pilgrimage is for, offered kindly, by a man who believes he is doing them a favour.