She looks at him for a long time, but does not know what to do except offer him opium which he will not take. The uncle's wife has been reduced to a yellow-skinned, haggard woman. For a moment, Wang Lung is afraid that the cousin will blame him for what has happened to his mother, but the cousin says nothing. The soldiers destroy and abuse Wang Lung's house, crushing the chairs and stepping on the flowers in the garden. But the family hates the cousin the most because he goes around the house, eyeing all the slaves.
Cuckoo suggests that there is nothing else to do but give the cousin a slave for pleasure.
The cousin wishes to have Pear Blossom , the pale small girl that Wang Lung bought during the famine, but the girl is terrified. Lotus is peeved because of the fuss that the girl is making over an unimportant matter, but Wang Lung does not want to send the frightened, weeping maid to the coarse, lustful cousin. After having pacified the angry Lotus, Wang Lung finds a way to avoid sending Pear Blossom to the cousin. Wang Lung is kind and gentle to the little slave who is still cowering in fear. The cousin stays in Wang Lung's house for almost two months before going to another war.