又來遞解狀 Why Bring a Retraction Today
卻說那刺史升堂，才擡出投文牌去，早有寇梁兄弟抱牌跪門叫喊。刺史著令進來。二人將解狀遞上。刺史見了，發怒道：「你昨日遞了失狀，就與你拿了賊來，你又領了贓去，怎麼今日又來遞解狀？」二人滴淚道：「老爺，昨夜小的父親顯魂道：『唐朝聖僧，原將賊徒拿住，奪獲財物，放了賊去，好意將財物送還我家報恩，怎麼反將他當賊，拿在獄中受苦？却说那刺史升堂，才抬出投文牌去，早有寇梁兄弟抱牌跪门叫喊。刺史着令进来。二人将解状递上。刺史见了，发怒道：「你昨日递了失状，就与你拿了贼来，你又领了赃去，怎么今日又来递解状？」二人滴泪道：「老爷，昨夜小的父亲显魂道：『唐朝圣僧，原将贼徒拿住，夺获财物，放了贼去，好意将财物送还我家报恩，怎么反将他当贼，拿在狱中受苦？
逐句解 Line by line
Now the prefect took his seat, and no sooner had he had the plaint board carried out than Kou Liang and his brother were there clutching it and calling out at the door on their knees. The prefect ordered them shown in, and the two of them handed up their statement of retraction.
卻說 — the third and last of the chapter's three. Each has moved the story to a different party: the robbers, the pilgrims, and now the court. 著令進來 — ordered them shown in. The middle character here is the one that means to have someone do a thing — to set them to it, or to issue the order that they do it — and this is only the second place in the chapter it does that job. It is ×1 in the whole novel in this form. 解狀 — a statement of retraction, and the brothers are at the door with it before the board is even out. They have been waiting since before dawn.
The prefect saw it and grew angry. "Yesterday you handed in a complaint of robbery, and the thieves were caught and brought to you, and you took the stolen goods away with you. Why do you come today with a retraction?"
The prefect's anger is entirely reasonable and it is the second time in two days that his reasonableness has been the problem. He gave them everything they asked for — the arrest, the conviction, the goods restored — and they have come back the next morning to take it all back. From where he sits, a family who file, win, collect and then retract are wasting a court's time, and there is no honest explanation available to them.
The two of them said with tears running, "Your honour, last night our father showed himself in spirit and said, 'Those holy monks of the Tang court had caught the robbers first and taken the goods off them, and let the robbers go, and were kindly carrying the property back to our house to repay us — how is it that you have turned round and treated them as thieves, and have them in gaol suffering for it?'"
送還 — carrying it back to its owner. The third of the chapter's four, and this one is quoted at two removes: the sons repeating what their father's ghost said, which was Monkey, who was repeating what actually happened. The edition marks the ghost's whole speech with its own inner quotation brackets, as it did the proverbs and the accusation. So this passage carries the truth about the case, correctly stated, inside quotation marks, spoken by two men who believe they heard it from a corpse. 顯魂 — showed himself in spirit. The technical term for a visitation, and the sons use it without embarrassment. Nobody in this chapter doubts that the dead can do this.
The truth finally enters the courtroom, and it arrives in the worst possible form. Everything the sons say is accurate — the pilgrims did catch the robbers, did release them, were bringing the goods back out of gratitude. It is a complete and correct account of the case.
And its only source is a ghost. The very family who accused them are offering the one thing that could clear four innocent men, less than a day after swearing the opposite, on the authority of a dead man's voice in the dark. A prefect has every reason to find that less credible than the sworn complaint it contradicts.
His anger is the point. He is not being obstructive; he is being consistent. The same man who would not look at a travel warrant will not accept a retraction either, and for the same reason both times — he is weighing what is in front of him and it does not add up. What changes his mind, in about a hundred characters, is that his own dead uncle told him the same thing.