As Wang Lung sees men being forced into service by soldiers, he gives up his job with the ricksha and accepts a night job which pays even less. Thus, his situation is gradually worsening, and he still thinks of selling his "fool" so that the family can return to the land. O-lan tells him to wait because there is unrest in the city, and she is anticipating that something favorable will happen.
In addition to the episodes with the soldiers, there are other explicit examples of unrest in the city. There is the young man who speaks of revolution; he condemns the rich and would divide the wealth of the rich among the poor. Also, there is the old man from the family in an adjoining hut who maintains that "when the rich are too rich, there is a way, and if I am not mistaken that way will come soon." Finally, there is an uprising when the gates of the rich are broken and the poor pour into the houses to pillage. Thus, it is by the opportunism of Wang Lung that he is able to get enough money to return to the land just at the point when he had decided that he must sell his "fool," even against his most basic principles.
Chapter 14 ends Wang Lung's first separation from the land. The chapter ends with his triumphant cry: "We go back to the land — tomorrow we go back to the land!"
