These chapters are marked by the coming of the flood waters after seven years of good harvests. During these seven years, Wang Lung's fortunes have increased, and when, in the seventh year, a great flood covered most of his land, Wang Lung had stocked enough to not be adversely affected by the floods. He had food and money, and his house was on a hill far away from the water. Thus, his foresight has paid off, and as others starved, Wang Lung had plenty.
With the coming of the waters, Wang Lung becomes bored with his house and its members. He cannot work in the fields, his father is growing feebleminded, his little "fool" only makes him sad, and O-lan's body no longer appeals to him. For the first time in his life, he begins to look critically at O-lan and to find fault with her. He realizes that she is a dull and common creature "who plodded in silence . . . her features were too large . . . and her feet were large and spreading."
We also learn that O-lan has "a fire in her vitals." Wang Lung is sincerely moved but still cannot stem the irritation in his breast as he reproaches her for not oiling her hair, and again he is especially annoyed at her hideous "big feet."
Wang Lung leaves for town "without knowing what it was he wished." With increased trips to town, he begins to visit the tea house every day. After several visits, he meets Cuckoo in the tea house. Upon their encounter, she exclaims loudly: "Well, and Wang the farmer!" This encounter makes Wang Lung determined to show her that he is more than a "farmer." He is even half-ashamed that he has only had tea during all of these visits to the tea house, and he is amazed when Cuckoo tells him that she can provide him with his choice of women, the "pictures of dream women, of goddesses in the mountain of Kwen Lwen." By the end of the chapter, what had earlier been a casual appreciation of the pictures turns to a process of selection of the girl whom Wang Lung finds most beautiful.
