Wang Lung is impatient to get the task of moving accomplished. Yet on the day set aside for moving, he is still reluctant to leave the land. Thus, Pearl Buck suggests that, even in wealth, Wang Lung's ties with the land are still exceptionally strong. He resolves to move to his new court before his grandson is born, realizing that he can return to his old home any time he wants to. Later, in the final chapter of the novel, he does return to the land, accompanied by little Pear Blossom.
The moving order of the family carries some significance. As long as O-lan was alive, Lotus Flower was still second to her. Now that O-lan is dead, Lotus Flower has been raised in status; consequently, she and her servant Cuckoo and their slaves are the first to be moved, followed by the eldest son and his wife.
With the help of Ching, whom Wang Lung relies upon more and more, a maid is found for the second son and the wedding is arranged. Now Wang Lung feels that he might have peace since there is only one more son to marry. Thus, as he sleeps in the sun, Pearl Buck shows us how he resembles his father in the beginning of the novel. We have nearly come full circle.
Now that Ching is getting older and there is so much land to look after, Wang Lung decides to rent portions of the land and take half of the crops in lieu of rent. Wang Lung is becoming more and more like the Old Lord of the House of Hwang, who merely sat in his courts with his mistresses and collected his rents.
When the uncle's son comes and asks for money in order to join the war in the North, Wang Lung finally discovers peace for himself. He now has enough money to do anything he wants; there seems to be peace and tranquility, and he "who once had been well satisfied with good wheaten bread wrapped about a stick of garlic" now eats "dainty foods" and dresses his slaves better than he himself was dressed in his youth. He is especially pleased when Cuckoo refers to him as "a lord."
