Continuing to clean houses, Mrs. Woo scrapes together enough money to buy a secondhand piano. A few weeks later, Jing-mei participates in a talent show in a church hall. All the couples from the Joy Luck Club come to her piano debut. Although she has not practiced and does not know the music, Jing-mei has come to believe that she is indeed a prodigy. Halfway through the song, though, she begins to realize how badly she is playing. The weak applause and her parents' disappointed looks reveal the unmistakable truth: Jing-mei is not a musical prodigy.
As a result, Jing-mei is shocked when her mother expects her to continue practicing. During the ensuing quarrel, Jing-mei shouts the most hateful thing she can summon: "I wish I'd never been born! I wish I were dead! Like them!" At the mention of the twin daughters in China that she was forced to abandon years ago, Mrs. Woo suddenly retreats and never mentions the piano again. As a result, Jing-mei is shocked when her mother offers her the piano as a thirtieth birthday present. Only after her mother's death can Jing-mei accept the piano. As she is packing her mother's things, she sits down to play the piano for the first time in many years.
