Next, Wang Lung is plagued by the youngest son, who does not want to stay on the land but wants to be educated as were his older brothers. It troubles Wang Lung that he has no son upon the land, but, in order to have peace, he has a tutor engaged to teach the youngest son.
As the years pass, Wang Lung, in the space of five years, has five grandsons and three granddaughters, and each child has his own individual slave when it is born. Thus the House of Wang is becoming not only a powerful house, but a very large house.
After the ravages of opium, Wang Lung's uncle is on the verge of death, and the uncle's wife hopes that if their son comes home that Wang Lung will find a bride suitable for him so that he might carry on the family name. When the uncle dies, Wang Lung has the uncle's wife brought to the great house in town. She is now as dried and yellow as was the Old Mistress whom Wang Lung had once feared so greatly.
