After the uncle's son tries to attack Wang Lung's youngest daughter, he goes to see Liu, the grain merchant to whose son the daughter is promised, and tells him: "Since she is to be your family, let her virginity be guarded here." This fact further demonstrates the insignificant position of women in the Chinese family. After Wang Lung takes his thirteen-year-old daughter to Liu's house, he never sees her again for the rest of his life even though they live only a short distance across town. Furthermore, he rarely thinks of her.
After freeing himself of his anxiety for his youngest daughter, he turns his attention to solving his next problem — the uncle and the uncle's wife. He approaches the problem in a most casual manner, bringing opium to them and off-handedly saying that it is only a little something that he once bought for his own ailing father. As they become addicted, Wang Lung does not object to the silver which he has to spend because it brings him peace of mind — the one thing he has desired throughout his lifetime.
This use of opium also represents one of the final phases in the establishment of the House of Wang as a powerful house. As the waters recede, people return to the land, and Wang Lung loans some money at great interest rates, sells seeds at great profits, and buys land "dirt cheap." In one day, he buys five slaves because he is a rich man and can now afford it. All are about twelve years old and fully capable of doing good work around the courts. Then, a few days later, he buys a seven-year-old girl because he is touched by "her pretty frightened eyes and her piteous thinness." This girl is Pear Blossom; she will be the last person to share his bed. Thus the House of Wang becomes powerful through the acquisition of more land, more profits, and the addition of six slaves to its courts.
With all of the above good fortune, Wang Lung expects to find peace in his house, but he does not, and, again, it is because of his uncle's son and his own eldest son. The original antagonism caused by the uncle's son peeping at the eldest son's wife is still the basic cause of the trouble. Now the cousin also walks around the new slaves improperly attired. The eldest son feels this is a negative reflection upon the rising House of Wang, which is now gradually moving away from the land and into prominence. As he tells Wang Lung, his cousin's conduct "is unseemly in my father's house."
