只管允他 Only Consent to Him
卻說三藏師徒們在驛廳上正享齋飯，只見外面人報：「當駕太師與我們本官老姆來了。」三藏道：「太師來卻是何意？」八戒道：「怕是女王請我們也。」行者道：「不是相請，就是說親。」三藏道：「悟空，假如不放，強逼成親，卻怎麼是好？」行者道：「師父只管允他，老孫自有處治。」却说三藏师徒们在驿厅上正享斋饭，只见外面人报：「当驾太师与我们本官老姆来了。」三藏道：「太师来却是何意？」八戒道：「怕是女王请我们也。」行者道：「不是相请，就是说亲。」三藏道：「悟空，假如不放，强逼成亲，却怎么是好？」行者道：「师父只管允他，老孙自有处治。」
逐句解 Line by line
We tell now how Tripitaka and his disciples were in the posthouse hall enjoying their vegetarian meal, when someone came in from outside to report: 「The Grand Preceptor in attendance and our own officer, the old dame, have come.」
當駕 takes 當 as *dāng*, in attendance upon the sovereign's carriage. 老姆 is a familiar term for an elderly woman in service, used here of the warden by her own staff. 齋飯 is the monastic meatless meal, and the pilgrims are eating it when the embassy arrives — a small domestic detail that sets the scale of what is about to interrupt them.
「What can the Grand Preceptor mean by coming?」 said Tripitaka.
卻是何意 is a shade more anxious than a neutral question; Tripitaka has already sensed that an official visit is not good news.
「I dare say the queen is inviting us,」 said Eight Rules.
怕是 — 'I'm afraid it is', used here in the weakened sense 'I dare say'. Eight Rules reaches, as always, for the reading that involves a banquet.
「If it is not an invitation,」 said Pilgrim, 「then it is a marriage proposal.」
相請 takes 相 as *xiāng*, the adverbial. 說親 is the fixed term for opening marriage negotiations. Pilgrim's two-clause diagnosis is exactly right, and he reaches it before either official has entered the room.
「Wukong,」 said Tripitaka, 「suppose they will not let us go and force the match upon me — what then is to be done?」
強逼 takes 強 as *qiáng*. 不 stays *bù* before the fourth-tone 放 only after sandhi runs on the base reading — 假如不放 bakes 不|bú, since 放 is *fàng*. Tripitaka's question is the first admission that he cannot simply refuse.
「Master, only consent to her,」 said Pilgrim. 「Old Monkey has his own way of dealing with it.」
處治 takes 處 as *chǔ*, the verb 'to dispose of, deal with' — not the *chù* of 去處 and 好處; pypinyin defaults to the noun reading. 只管 is 'just go ahead and'. The plan Pilgrim will unfold two passages hence is already formed here, and he does not explain it.
The passage is four short exchanges and a decision, and its whole interest is in how the three disciples read the same event. Tripitaka asks what the visit means. Eight Rules guesses a dinner invitation. Pilgrim states the alternative flatly — if not an invitation, a proposal — and is correct. The novel has established this hierarchy of perception a hundred times, but rarely so economically.
Tripitaka's second question is the one that matters. He does not ask how to refuse; he asks what happens if refusal is not permitted. 強逼成親 — to force the match by compulsion — is the shape of the danger he has grasped, and it is a danger no amount of scripture-learning or moral rectitude can answer. He is asking, in effect, to be rescued.
Pilgrim's answer is four words of instruction and five of reassurance, and it inverts everything the reader expects. The Great Sage does not offer to fight; he tells his master to say yes. 只管允他 — just consent to her — is a strategy that requires Tripitaka to do the one thing his whole vocation forbids, and Pilgrim offers no explanation at all. The chapter's title names this: 心猿定計, the Mind-Monkey lays a plan.