When Jing-mei first begins her piano lessons with Mr. Chong, her mother trades her cleaning services not only for weekly lessons, but also daily access to a practice piano. The Woo family could not afford a piano for their daughter, but its matriarch was determined to get her genius up to her high standards. Already over the idea of being groomed into a prodigy, Jing-mei balks at this setup; she is only able to recognize that she did not want to be forced into learning a new skill and doesn’t see what her mother is sacrificing for her to achieve it.

Once Jing-mei works out that Mr. Chong is deaf, she is lazy, continuing her lessons but slacking off during practice and never committing to it. He praises her dedication and believes she is playing well because he cannot hear her dissonant chords. Jing-mei’s confidence builds with his praise, and the ruse is upheld that her lessons are going well. Therefore, when Auntie Lindo brags about Waverly’s chess skills, Suyuan truly believes her daughter is capable of playing beautifully. On the occasion of the talent show, the Woos surprise Jing-mei with a piano of her own: “my parents had saved up enough to buy me a secondhand piano, a black Wurlitzer spinet with a scarred bench.