- By now, you're probably getting the deal. Some people are rich, and some people are poor. While the rich play, the poor work so that the rich can play.
- Some people, like Wang Lung and the older people, don't pay any attention. But it looks like other people are starting to get angry. Wang Lung doesn't pay any attention to that. All he cares about is getting back to the land. But how? All they have to sell is their first daughter. Wang Lung doesn't want to sell her. But what else are they going to do?
- While Wang Lung is deciding, his hut-neighbor comes by, and tells him how he sold his daughters. That's what you have to do when you're poor, he says.
- During this conversation, Wang Lung starts to think that there is something strange about the neighbor. Something revolutionary-like.