#madam Yu

[scrivenger-grimgar]

Yunmeng Jiang is probably the Florida of the Jianghu

Like, they canonically fought water ghouls with their bare hands, regularly get into brawls with each other, have no concept of appropriate volume, hell they have a town down close to the worldly people with no height separation or massive stone walls or a comical amount of gold plating, if you didn’t know that they was a cult of martial sorcerers in that town you might just think “wow, wealthy trading family. The docks are nice!” and then just leave.

The sect leader has no spine and a vaguely homoerotic relationship with his dead best friend slash manservant, he adopted one is fucking insane and also a radical genius, and you’d expect him to be the outlier but no, the sister is just as fucking weird, she’s probably gone around in soaking wet clothes carry a child like a football because “he fell in, I couldn’t just leave him there!”

The son likes to pretend he’s sane but he’s such a chronic gossip that he probably needed an intervention, his sword was named after the three poisons, and he also spent 13 years thinking that his dead adopted brother would find a way to resurrect himself.

Even Madam Yu isn’t safe because she lashed a teenager with a lightning whip like 36 times in the middle of the fucking Spanish Inquisition. She has such an irrational hatred of this one guy that she starts shitting on anyone even remotely kind to him. Girl. Go to therapy, or go to jail.

[batbusiness-schooldropout]

Au where Jiang Fengmian decides that the only way to appease his wife after taking Wei Ying in, is to double down and get her an orphan to raise as well. To the shock of everyone, this works!

JFM: Dearest, this is Xue Yang. He loves candy and biting people. He'll be living with us from now on

Madam Yu: I understand the appeal of taking in a child now. He's delightful

Wei Ying: Uncle, A-Yang bit me

Madam Yu: You shouldn't have been close enough to be bitten

[jcs-singular-slut-strand]

This picture goes so hard bro

[undercover-stories]

Wei Ying didn't 'break' Jiang Yanli's engagement to Jin Zixuan. Their fathers did, and no, it wasn't because Wei Ying started a fight with Jin Zixuan. It was because he brought to the surface the truth, which was the clear contempt Jin Zixuan had at the idea of being trapped in a marriage with Yanli. Jiang Fengmian broke it because he realized that Wei Ying was right. He couldn't let his daughter marry someone who obviously didn't want her and more importantly might fail to protect her the way a husband should especially since as a woman in ancient china, the person 'responsible' for her would be her husband and her husbands family. He knows what it's like to have constant internal conflict with your partner, and he didn't want Yanli to face that with her own.

Not to mention, it was only through the break of the engagement, and Yanli ceasing her acts of affection during the sunshot campaign did Jin Zixuan finally take notice of her.

The only person person who blamed Wei Ying was Madam Yu Ziyuan because of her prominent and unfair hatred towards Wei Ying. Just like the way she blamed him for the Wens attacking the Jiangs when no, the blame of that attack lies solely on the Wens. Blaming a kids actions as being the cause of inciting conflict is Dictatorship 101. It didn't matter what the Jiangs did. The Wens would have attacked them regardless, especially since Madam Yu refused to lower herself the way the Wens wanted her to. The way Wang Lingjiao was trying to. Blaming Wei Ying for the Jiang Massacre would be like blaming the destruction of Gusu by the Wens on Lan Zhan for trying to protect the library. The only ones to be blamed for all the destruction are the Wens. No one else.

[eiyriny]

i'll forever think of the fact that Jiang Cheng gave up his chance at his mother's approval and validation for Wei Wuxian. With JFM, Jiang Cheng had absolutely zero chance at gaining his affection or approval, but with Madam Yu? He had a real opportunity here. He could have gained her absolute validation and approval simply by turning against WWX. If he had followed in her footsteps, antagonized WWX, hurled abuse at him, and treated him like dirt beneath his feet, he could have earned her approval, but instead he chose not to.

The fact is, Jiang Cheng was supposed to be the Ming Fan to Madam Yu’s Shen Qingqiu, he was supposed to be the jealous young master who follow in his guardian behaviour to abuse the protagonist, but Jiang Cheng defies this narrative, despite everything, despite having every reason to become Ming Fan (having his beloved dogs removed for WWX, JFM favouring WWX, WWX being more talented etc) Jiang Cheng stayed loyal to the promised he made on the night WWX come to his home. He made the promise to protect WWX and Jiang Cheng kept to that promise time and time again, lived by it for as long as he could, cling to it as desperately as he could—until he reached his breaking point and with JYL's death, he...couldn't anymore.

[lady-of-the-spirit]

Yu Ziyuan I could be the husband you deserve

[yingandzhan]

You know, one thing that boggles my mind is how some in the fandom can dispute that Yu-furen "didn't whip WWX", "only whipped him that one time in the novel and once in the extras" and my absolute favourite response... "WWX said she never hit him".

All of which are the most ludicrous statements I've heard since Trump won the election...

Obviously YZY hit and abused WWX throughout his life. Not only do we see her doing so, but we are given a vivid description of his back in the extras and it's covered in old scars alongside the new ones she has just given him for no good reason. Before anyone cries "but it's propriety, he was half naked in front of a young woman!" and all the other crap I've seen people spout, he's not the only one with a bare chest... Yet she specifically blamed and targeted him. Your precious "tiger mom" YZY was being unreasonable and you god damn well known it!

Anyway, regardless of whether you believe WWXs obvious lie to save face and cope with the trauma (just like JL does when he denies JC hits him and we clearly SEE otherwise) there is an actual line in the novel, from the narrator, not WWX... that spells it out for readers in black and white!

...and Jiang Fengmian’s wife Yu Ziyuan had never spoken well of them to him— honestly, things had been pretty good if she didn’t WHIP HIM or tell him to scram, or kneel in the ancestral hall, or stay away from Jiang Cheng.

- Vol 1. 7S, which is my least favourite translation because I really do feel the translator actively tries to play the abuse down.

Jiang Fengmian’s wife, Yu Ziyuan, never had a decent conversation with him. He would be fortunate if she didn’t GIVE HIM A FEW LASHES, or banish him to kneel at the ancestral hall so that he would keep his distance from Jiang Cheng.

- Chapter 29, Taming Wangxian

...Jiang Fengmian’s wife, Yu Ziyuan, had never been interested in having a conversation with him at all. If she didn’t WHIP HIM A FEW TIMES and tell him to get out, kneel at the ancestral shrine, and keep far away from Jiang Cheng, he already considered that pretty good

- Chapter 29, Fanyiyi

...Yu ZiYuan never spoke properly to Wei WuXian at all. It was lucky for him if she didn’t GIVE HIM A FEW WHIPS and send him to kneel in the ancestral hall so that he’d keep his distance from Jiang Cheng.

- Chapter 29, ExR

It's in...Every. Single. Translation. So there's no excuse if you're talking about the novel or tagging things as MDZS or Mo Dao Zu Shi. It's right there for everyone to see. WWX deemed it a good day if he wasn't whipped! Which would have been the days YZY was off night-hunting and nowhere near Lotus Pier.

Thankfully YZY being away from the clan residence seems to be the case more often than not. But those days she was there... It was a likely scenario WWX was going to be "punished" (for absolutely nothing) in some way or form and judging by the scars he had across his back, she very much liked to hit him with her spiritual weapon.

[friedwizardwhispers]

Sometimes I think of the choices of two different adaptations (the donghua and the untamed) to soften Madam Yu's abuse on Wei Wuxian and I'm left baffled.

"she held back her whip". What do you mean she held herself back ? Where ?

[kettledemon]

Madam Yu and Madam Jin

[theballadofmars]

I need a fic where the war never happened because I like to imagine that when wangxian starts dating (but only jc, yanli and lxc knows and the rest of the cultivation world think they hate esch other), wwx jokes that if lwj wants to marry him he has to ask first to jiang fengmian and madam yu.

But lwj, bless his heart, actually does it. Also this is the time when yanli and jzx broke their engagement so when people start to talk about the lan clan going to yunmeng with the intention to marry a jiang, everyone thinks that it's yanli and jzx starts to panic.

So, lwj gets to yunmeng, madam yu is looking at him like she's about to kill him if he does something wrong, jfm is at his wife's side but we all know she's the one who takes the decisions.

Madam yu: so, you want my daughter's hand in marriage. Well, you're not jzx, but the second jade of lan is not...

Lwj: sorry, but I'm here to ask for Wei Ying's hand.

Wwx can't take it anymore and starts laughing.

Wwx: LAN ZHAN! I wasn't being serious!! I can't believe you actually did it!!!

Jfm and madam yu are confused, yanli feels sorry for them but at the same time this is too funny, and jc wants to die.

Because holy shit??? What do you mean that lwj, the amazing lwj, wants to marry wwx????? Madam yu and jfm are in shock. They obviously accept but they're like. So confused. Didn't they hate each other???

It gets worse, because a few days later jzx arrives to yunmeng and suddenly yells: "PLEASE LET ME MARRY YOUR DAUGHTER I REALLY LOVE HER PLEASE DON'T MARRY LAN WANGJI" or something like that.

It's pathetic. Jzx is there with only jgy and its obvious that he spent the last days flying as fast as he could to yunmeng, because he looks like shit.

But yanli finds it adorable, and jgy convinces madam yu to accept jzx terrible proposal.

[incorrectly-quoting-mxtx]

Madam Yu to Jiang Fengmian: A-Cheng can’t have a dog but you bring home a child?

[themaymoth]

"Just you, me and the end of the world love

Like it was always meant to be."

[writeitinsharpie]

ever think about the great sect madams of the generation before?

about madam yu, the violet spider, one of few in her generation to earn a title (even her husband was only ever sect leader. even wen ruohan was never regarded by a title other than sect leader wen). about yu ziyuan, about what she was like before years of jealousy and envy twisted her to only her most bitter parts? about the girl who was the third daughter of a sect leader, and then the wife of another, and yet all of her immense martial power meant nothing to the society around her.

about madam jin, known only by her title and never given a name or a natal sect, who was still somehow the closest friend to yu ziyuan. the mother of the sect heir and yet a wife who can do nothing but stand by as her husband dishonors their marriage over and over again.

about madam lan, the murderess locked up for her crimes, never seeing a trial and dying alone, only allowed to see her children once a month. who was she before she was the wife of the lan sect leader? was there a reason she killed the lan elder? did she want that marriage to qingheng-jun? did she even want the children she was kept from?

about the madams nie and wen, who only exist by implication, by the knowledge that their children exist and therefore so must they. about how so little is even implied about them?

[jcs-singular-slut-strand]

[hannigramislife]

When people tell me Jiang Cheng turned out abusive like Madam Yu, I laugh.

Because Jiang Cheng was terrified of her.

If you think Jin Ling is not yelling at Jiang Cheng about three times a week over stupid stuff, then you are wrong.

If you think Jiang Cheng would have been able to stay strong through Jin Ling on his knees, begging and crying for Jiang Cheng to stop someone's punishment, then you are wrong.

And if you think Jiang Cheng felt even a little bit as comfortable crying in front of Madam Yu as Jin Ling feels comfortable crying in front of Jiang Cheng-

You. Are. Wrong.

[lurkinginnernarrator]

A thought I had, (this isn't a fully thought out meta, just an impression of sorts.)

Something about Wei Wuxian's inherited vengeance.

Where did Wei Wuxian get that vengeance from? Mild-mannered Jiang Fengmian? Benevolent and kind Jiang Yanli? Cangse Sanren, who Wei Wuxian remembers saying something along the lines of remember the good things people do for you not the bad? Wei Changze?

The child of Cangse Sanren and Wei Changze would've likely done something along the lines of protecting the common people and fighting for justice during the Sunshot campaign, but did Wei Wuxian do that?

No, I tell you truly, Wei Wuxian is also the child of Yu Ziyuan. Did they have anything resembling a healthy relationship? No. But the child of Cangse Sanren and Wei Changze wouldn't slaughter thousands in unholy vengeance. Wouldn't extract oceans of blood for every drop stolen.

But the child of Yu Ziyuan would.

That isn't to say, he's only the child of Yu Ziyuan, no, we see glimpses of the influences of his other parental figures throughout the story.

Look at how he doesn't flinch from leaving the proverbial (paradise) mountain to save the wen remnants (CSSR), look at his compassion for the common people (Jiang Yanli); His sense of loyalty (Wei Changze), level headedness (Jiang Fengmian).

Something about how conscious he is of debt. Does that stem from his inherent preference of righteous action? His desire to do right? Yes. But I wouldn't discount his awareness of debt also coming from a quasi-maternal figure like Yu Ziyuan. Now there is a woman aware of debt, what she owes and what is owed to her.

Everyone is shaped by the adult figures in their life, and we inherit many things from them, such as traumas, perspectives and traits.

I posit Wei Wuxian is no different. But, just like Wei Wuxian, we aren't defined by our parental figures.