- Everything is gravy after Wang Lung buys the land. He has more harvest than he knows what to do with, Ching moves in, and O-lan gives birth to twins. Life is good.
- Except one thing. His first daughter still can't talk; actually, she can't do any of the things that she's supposed to do at her age. It’s probably because of that year that they spent in South, so Wang Lung feels pretty guilty about it.
- Oh, and there's one other thing. Wang Lung can't read. This is a little bit of a problem, since he's sort of a businessman after all. After a while, he gets tired of all the jokes that everyone makes, and he decides that he's going to put his sons in school so that no one can make fun of him any more.
- This is great, because the first son has been dreaming of this all his life, anyway. But when he finds out, the younger son starts whining that he wants to go to school, too.
- When the brothers are at school, their teacher also gives them names.