Why does Wang Lung use his remaining money to buy more land? The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck

In Chapter 5 of The Good Earth by
Pearl S. Buck, Wang Lung declares, "Land is one's flesh and blood."  Clearly, then, Wang
Lung perceives land as that which sustains all life, for from the land he and his family
are fed, and from the sale of his crops, he is able to purchase things and be warm and
well-fed in the winter. 

In Chapter 8, after he purchases
the field from the House of Hwang, he is able to obtain a harvest from it, but loses all
the others to a drought.  For, by watering this field from a nearby moat, Wang Lung
keeps his crop alive.  Then, he sells the crop as quickly as it is harvested, an action
that is uncharacteristic of him.  As soon as he feels the silver in his hands, Wang Lung
rushes to the House of Hwang and accosts the land
agent,

"I have
that with which to buy the land adjoining mine by the
moat."

The agent hungrily
takes the money, speaking in an eager whisper. And, Wang Lung does not bemoan the loss
of the silver because he has

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bought with it the desire of his heart...But more
to him than its dark fertility was the fact that it had belonged once to the family of a
prince.  And this time he told no one, not even O'lan, what he had
done.

And, when there are no
crops and no food to eat and the villager rob his family of their food and furniture,
leaving his house empty, Wang Lung consoles himself by saying to his
heart,

"They
cannot take the land from me....If I had the silver, they would have taken it.  If I had
bought with the silver to store it, they would have taken it all. I have the land still,
and it is mine."

Wang Lung
realizes that the land is the one reality, the one constant in his life.  Unlike
everything else is temporal; the land is eternal.  When the rains come, he will be able
to grow more crops, if only he can afford seed.  In addition, he is proud to own land
that once belonged to the noble House of Hwang.