eating "sticky sweet dumplings" laced with opium, choosing the day of her death carefully to threaten Wu-Tsing with the vengeance of her angry ghost. Afraid of this curse, Wu-Tsing vows to honor An-Mei's mother as an honorable First Wife and promises to raise An-Mei and her half brother accordingly. When Second Wife tries to pay respects to An-Mei's late mother, An-Mei screams at the Second Wife, and destroys her necklace. As An-Mei narrates, the Second Wife's hair starts turning white after that day. In the present day, An-Mei encourages Rose to stand up to Ted for herself and their daughter Jennifer, or nothing will change. To avoid the fate of An-Mei's mother, Rose reclaims her strength and confronts Ted, telling him that he will leave the house and that he will not take their daughter away from her. Rose then tells him that she was wrong to consider her love for him as less worthy than his love for her, compelling Ted to take her seriously and stop taking her for granted. At June's farewell party, Rose and Ted are seen together, the state of their marriage seemingly much improved. Suyuan and June Woo During the Japanese invasion of China in World War II, Suyuan Woo escapes with her twin baby daughters, but becomes ill and her cart breaks down during the journey. Near death, Suyuan is unable to carry the babies herself and abandons them, along with all of her other possessions, including a photo of herself. Suyuan survives, but is haunted by guilt over the loss of her daughters and not knowing their fates. After remarrying in America, Suyuan has high hopes for her new daughter, June, who feels that she can never be more than who she is, so fails to live up to her mother's expectations. Suyuan insists that June learn piano in the hopes that she will turn out to be a prodigy, but she quits after performing poorly in a recital. The story moves ahead to one year before Suyuan's passing. June, now an adult, has been freelancing for her long-time friend and rival, Waverly. At a dinner party, Waverly rejects June's business proposals, prompting Suyuan to comment on the differences between June and Waverly, saying that style is something one cannot be taught, but must be born with. June feels humiliated at the implication that Waverly has style and she does not, believing