第九十四回 · 捏指頭兒算日子 Counting on His Fingers — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

捏指頭兒算日子 Counting on His Fingers

趁chèn今jīn日rì就jiù上shàng殿diàn，打dǎ發fā他tā關guān文wén，教jiào他tā出chū城chéng，卻què好hǎo會huì宴yàn。」公gōng主zhǔ叩kòu頭tóu謝xiè了le恩ēn。國guó王wáng即jí出chū駕jià上shàng殿diàn，傳chuán旨zhǐ請qǐng駙fù馬mǎ共gòng他tā三sān位wèi。原yuán來lái那nà唐táng僧sēng捏niē指zhǐ頭tóu兒ér算suàn日rì子zi，熬áo至zhì十shí二èr日rì，天tiān未wèi明míng，就jiù與yǔ他tā三sān人rén計jì較jiào道dào：「今jīn日rì卻què是shì十shí二èr了le，這zhè事shì如rú何hé區qū處chǔ？」趁chèn今jīn日rì就jiù上shàng殿diàn，打dǎ发fā他tā关guān文wén，教jiào他tā出chū城chéng，却què好hǎo会huì宴yàn。」公gōng主zhǔ叩kòu头tóu谢xiè了le恩ēn。国guó王wáng即jí出chū驾jià上shàng殿diàn，传chuán旨zhǐ请qǐng驸fù马mǎ共gòng他tā三sān位wèi。原yuán来lái那nà唐táng僧sēng捏niē指zhǐ头tóu儿ér算suàn日rì子zi，熬áo至zhì十shí二èr日rì，天tiān未wèi明míng，就jiù与yǔ他tā三sān人rén计jì较jiào道dào：「今jīn日rì却què是shì十shí二èr了le，这zhè事shì如rú何hé区qū处chǔ？」

逐句解 Line by line

趁chèn今jīn日rì就jiù上shàng殿diàn，打dǎ發fā他tā關guān文wén，教jiào他tā出chū城chéng，卻què好hǎo會huì宴yàn。」公gōng主zhǔ叩kòu頭tóu謝xiè了le恩ēn。國guó王wáng即jí出chū駕jià上shàng殿diàn，傳chuán旨zhǐ請qǐng駙fù馬mǎ共gòng他tā三sān位wèi。趁chèn今jīn日rì就jiù上shàng殿diàn，打dǎ发fā他tā关guān文wén，教jiào他tā出chū城chéng，却què好hǎo会huì宴yàn。」公gōng主zhǔ叩kòu头tóu谢xiè了le恩ēn。国guó王wáng即jí出chū驾jià上shàng殿diàn，传chuán旨zhǐ请qǐng驸fù马mǎ共gòng他tā三sān位wèi。

"Taking today, I shall go up to the hall, hand over their travel rescript and send them out of the city, which will suit the feast very well." The princess knocked her head and thanked him for the favour. The king went out at once and up to the hall, and sent down an order asking for the Prince Consort and the three of them.

It takes him one sentence to turn his daughter's fear into an administrative action: stamp the papers, send them out, get on with the party. 打發他關文 is the errand Tripitaka has wanted done since the moment he arrived in this country. He is finally going to get it, and it is the worst thing that could happen to him.

原yuán來lái那nà唐táng僧sēng捏niē指zhǐ頭tóu兒ér算suàn日rì子zi，熬áo至zhì十shí二èr日rì，天tiān未wèi明míng，就jiù與yǔ他tā三sān人rén計jì較jiào道dào：「今jīn日rì卻què是shì十shí二èr了le，這zhè事shì如rú何hé區qū處chǔ？」原yuán来lái那nà唐táng僧sēng捏niē指zhǐ头tóu儿ér算suàn日rì子zi，熬áo至zhì十shí二èr日rì，天tiān未wèi明míng，就jiù与yǔ他tā三sān人rén计jì较jiào道dào：「今jīn日rì却què是shì十shí二èr了le，这zhè事shì如rú何hé区qū处chǔ？」

Now that Tang Monk had been counting the days off on his fingers and had held out until the twelfth. Before it was light he was talking it over with the three of them: "Today is the twelfth after all. How is this business to be handled?"

The best small image in the chapter. 捏指頭兒算日子 — pinching his fingers and reckoning the days — is what a man does when he has nothing else to do about a date. 熬 is to boil something down slowly, and it is the ordinary Chinese word for enduring a stretch of time you cannot shorten. He has been simmering for four days. And 區處 reads chǔ, to handle or dispose of a matter — the same character that is a mere place in 好去處, the cue for the garden rhapsody. No table in this project catches that one; it has to be read.

總評 Commentary

Two scenes side by side and neither knows about the other. In the inner palace a bride is having the guards moved away from the groom. In the garden the groom has been awake since before dawn counting on his fingers.

The chapter has been running two clocks since the eighth, and they are about to strike together. The king's clock is the astrologer's: a chart, a fine hour, do not let it go by. Tripitaka's is a man in the dark with his hands, adding up how long is left.

It is worth noticing that in four days of feasting, matching poems and beating his disciple, he has not once come up with a plan. He asks the same question this morning that he asked on the first night, in almost the same words. What he has done instead is endure — which the novel says with a word that means slow boiling.