#bad madam yu

[tea-cat-arts]

You know what, I've read enough fanfic. I'm confiscating Madame Yu from you guys

Free my girl- she did the things she's being accused of, but not as frequently or severely as the fandom pretends, her actions are being taken out of context, and her depth is being reduced to that of a Colleen Hoover antagonist

[add1ctedt0you]

What a plot twist you were. [x]

[raddestrose]

I am too petty for my own good

[hermesmoly]

mdzs dad alignment chart thingy

[withthewindinherfootsteps]

Wang LingJiao used the chance to scramble out. She took out a cylinder of fire-light from her lapels and shook it a few times. A light shot out of the cylinder. Along with a sharp whistle, it rushed out of the wooden window and exploded in the sky outside. Then, she fumbled out a second one, a third one. Hair tangled, she mumbled, “Come… Come… Come here… Everyone, come here!” Through the pain, Wei WuXian pushed Jiang Cheng, “Stop her from sending any more signals!” Jiang Cheng let go of Wei WuXian and lunged in the direction of Wang LingJiao. Yet, at the same time, Wen ZhuLiu was closing in on Madam Yu. He looked as if he was about to knock her down. Jiang Cheng hurried, “Mom!” He immediately gave up on Wang LingJiao and threw himself over. Wen ZhuLiu didn’t even turn his head as he struck, “Not even close!” Jiang Cheng’s shoulder suffered the attack. Blood immediately burst from his mouth. Wang LingJiao had already let out all of the signal fire-lights. Sharp whistles and bright sparks filled the entire grey-blue sky. - Chapter 58, EXR

It's quite interesting how, in this moment, Jiang Cheng does exactly what he's always criticised Wei Wuxian of doing: endangering the Yunmeng Jiang sect by 'playing the hero'. That's not what either of them are doing, of course – it isn't a motivation for Jiang Cheng here, it's not a motivation for Wei Wuxian anytime else, and the motivations they have definitely make sense – but it's exactly the sort of behaviour Jiang Cheng would criticise Wei Wuxian for, with those exact words.

Yet, no character ever criticises him for this – Wei Wuxian doesn't, even when it was his (necessary) advice that was disregarded; Madam Yu doesn't, even when her sect suffered as a consequence. Even when it very likely played a role in Lotus Pier's downfall (at least in getting a lot of Wen sect cultivators to get there very fast), it's never brought up by any character ever again... whereas Wei Wuxian's action of saving Lan Wangji, Jin Zixuan and Mianmian in the Xuanwu cave constantly is, even when the Wen sect was pretty certainly going to attack Lotus Pier anyway*. That's not to say Jiang Cheng should be blamed for the fall of Lotus Pier, either – that's on the Wen sect, and regardless of both of their actions, the attack was probably going to be a success. And can we blame someone for making a panicked decision protect his mother? – but one's action is definitely more direct than the other, and it's not the one that's constantly blamed.

The aim, though, isn't to compare the actions so much as the attitudes of the people involved, and this is another little detail that shows the imbalance in Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng's dynamic. Again, Wei Wuxian doesn't say anything about this afterwards, and doesn't seem to blame him, even when it's his words that were disregarded, and when the Jiang sect and Lotus Pier were undoubtedly very important to him as well. Which is good! That's a good thing and definitely the healthier option for both of them! If the roles were flipped, and Wei Wuxian saved a(n admittedly non-Yu Ziyuan) person, disregarding Jiang Cheng's orders while leading to more danger falling on Lotus Pier? Jiang Cheng would never stop blaming him or bringing it up. Even after the many years that passed between then and Wei Wuxian's resurrection, he still blames Wei Wuxian for the fall of Lotus Pier due to his actions in the Xuanwu cave** – once again, a much less direct scenario.

--

*Very strategic location (trade hub etc), they attacked the Cloud Recesses already, Jiang Cheng's internal narration literally admits this:

In his heart, Jiang Cheng knew clearly that back in the cave of the Xuanwu of Slaughter at Dusk-Creek Mountain, even if Wei WuXian hadn’t saved Lan WangJi, the Wen Sect would have found some reason to come over sooner or later. But he had always felt that, if the whole thing with Wei WuXian didn’t happen, maybe it wouldn’t have been so soon, maybe there would’ve been some way to turn things around - Chapter 59, EXR

Yet there was some time between the end of the Wen indoctrination and the Fall of Lotus Pier, and we never even saw attempts at security adjustments!

**As we see in the Ancestral Hall:

Jiang Cheng mocked, “Look how forgetful you are. What does unwelcome people mean? Then let me remind you. It was because you played the hero and saved Second Young Master Lan, who’s standing beside you right now, that the entire Lotus Pier and my parents went down with you." - Chapter 87, EXR

[the-demon-under-my-bed]

Unpopular opinion but Jinzhu and Yinzhu are under appreciated characters in MDZS. For a show that already has like 3 named female characters, they are quickly forgotten about by the fandom. Like, Yu Ziyuan has 2 childhood besties who follow her everywhere? They only serve her? THEY ARE LITERAL ASSASSINS? Badass bitches. They have like 10 collective seconds of screen time but they are actually so important to me. Are they sisters? platonic? lesbians? all of the above somehow? no answers! But i lpve them they are just always standing there menacingly.

[wangxianficrecs]

Do you want to hear by allollipoppins, dameauxgentianes

Do you want to hear

by allollipoppins, dameauxgentianes

T, 12k, Wangxian

Part of Dark Lan Zhan Week

Summary: — about the deal that I’m making? Lan Wangji goes back in time to save Wei Wuxian. This changes everything. Day 4: Righteousness | Time Travel Kay's comments: This story is for all fans of Dark Lan Wangji, who love to see him do whatever is needed to ensure that Wei Ying lives a happy and comfortable life. In this story, he travels back in time and makes the Lan Sect save little A-Ying from the streets, with Lan Qiren promptly adopting the boy. Of course, this leads to conflict with the Jiang Sect. At the same time, Lan Wangji also makes sure his sick mother receives help from medical prodify Wen Qing. Major divergences follow! The entire story is told through beautifully-formatted letters, very creative! Excerpt: I didn’t even know A-Zhan was aware of A-Niang’s sickness. I say this, but really I should not doubt his perspicacity. He may be young, but he is much smarter than he looks. It sometimes feels as if my brother were an entirely different person. Some days it seems as if he is growing so fast — much too fast for my liking. I feel powerless in such moments, as if no matter what I do I will never be able to protect him from the world. What does it say of me and my ability to be a good brother? But then A-Ying came to the sect and I do realize that I have been thinking about it too much once more. With A-Ying here, I have nothing to worry about. A-Zhan is as he has always been, but he acts more like his age now, and has not left A-Ying’s side since they met.

canon divergence, time travel, time travel fix-it, somebody lives/not everybody dies, madam lan lives, epistolary, letters, minor character death, dark lan wangji, dark lan zhan week, wei wuxian is a lan, bad parents jiang fengmian and yu ziyuan, good uncle lan qiren, no sunshot campaign

~*~

(Please REBLOG as a signal boost for this hard-working author if you like – or think others might like – this story.)

[friedwizardwhispers]

Me,before reading mdzs: woah there are a lot of of hualian fanfic adopting Wei Wuxian, I wonder why ?

Me, now, in the middle of mdzs: Oh....

Everything makes so much sense now.

[madtomedgar]

I did this to myself but the tags on that poll... Oy.

[toxic-mothers-tourney]

Toxic propaganda: Yu Ziyuan/Madame Yu (MDZS/CQL)

her son's estrangement from his adopted brother as an adult is a direct result of her driving a wedge between them as teenagers and blaming everything on the child ahe wrongly suspected of being her husband's kid out of wedlock with the (dead) woman who she's wildly jealous of bc her husband was in love with her first. she reprimands her family at every chance she gets and seems determined that nobody should be happy since she is so miserable and self-loathing and insecure herself.

permanently fucked up all three of her kids. her impact on the main characters' journeys, their sacrifices, their low self-worth, their insecurities, and their relationship disintegrating cannot be overstated. convinced the adopted kid to essentially kill himself to protect her son and that the military invasion of their home was all his fault. her last words to the adopted kid were “I hate you so much” and the last thing she did before sacrificing herself was hug her son FOR THE FIRST TIME. toxic mother of all time.

like killing your children is obviously bad but there's something so uniquely evil about her convincing a teenage boy that he's solely responsible for all of the most horrific things that have happened to his home and that he needs to give up his life for it, and to repay the debt to this family for taking him in off the streets

also her daughter is constantly ignored by the fandom but she's a huge people-pleaser and it's partially on her mom

Not many moms give their son a magic whip to torture people with

look. shes sexy. shes a named woman in a danmei. do you know how rare that is? she fought to the death for her home. and she should have never had children.

She is verbally and emotionally abusive to both her children, constantly comparing her son to a prodigy and saying his father disliked him until he developed a killer inferiority complex that set the stage for him to be forever alone and bitter. Her daughter had to parent her younger brother and her adoptive brother, who her mother HATES and constantly berates and abuses, even whipping him with a magic electric whip. She makes everyone around her miserable.

Sucks every good thing outta the atmosphere as soon as she walks into the room.

in the family dinner intro scene it is wild how much work she does. in particular she sounds just like jc as an adult later in the story - th cutting sarcasm, the contempt, the anger and insecurity. jc later echoes her in sneeringly calling wwx a good person for trying to be a hero. like how are you supposed to argue that? you can't. it's just to make wwx feel bad for abandoning the jiangs when he was just trying to save a bunch of people from extermination

Managed to fuck up not only Jiang Cheng but also Wei Wuxian, who is not even her own kid

Blamed a teenager under her care for her failing marriage, was physically and emotionally abusive to this teenager and her children, which was major factor in their deteriorating relationship and deaths. The show (and it's source material) imply that her son, who is agressive towards his brother and other people and has few positive relationships in his life, grew up to become like her due to her influence on him

[lilnasxvevo]

I saw a Jiang Cheng anti the other day being snotty about how it sure seems like a lot of Jiang Cheng fans list “sexy” as one of the main reasons they like him and it must just all be CQL fans who just like him because he has a handsome face

And like. Look. Does Wang Zhuocheng have a handsome face of COURSE he does but that’s not the point okay?? When we say Jiang Cheng is sexy we’re not talking about his physical appearance! We’re talking about the lightning whip, we’re talking about “I am his uncle. Any last words?”, we’re talking about the internal anguish, we’re talking about the overall bitchiness, we’re talking about how Jiang Cheng took a sect that had been burnt to ash that everyone laughed at for claiming to still be one of the great sects to being THE sect that nobody dares mess with. We’re talking about the fact that he named his sword Sandu. We’re talking about how he only has one friend and that person is also his only living family member and a teenager okay fine it’s his nephew. We’re talking about a fella whose greatest dream was for his family to be together and safe and happy being forced to go on without them. We’re talking about his paper-thin ego and the fact that he WILL not stop crying.

THAT’S sexy. THAT’S why Jiang Cheng is sexy. Not because he’s “handsome” or whatever, pah! The entire show is packed wall to wall with handsome young men. Jiang Cheng is sexy because he’s miserable and furious and he’s great at one-liners. And he has a lightning whip.

[tea-cat-arts]

"Madam Yu would be a Karen/ treat minimum wage employees like shit-" literally the only servant she's shown abusing is Wei Wuxian (and that's because he's the victim of a proxy war between her and Jiang Fengmian around the idea of him being adopted into the family, not because of his class). Madam Yu's two handmaid's love and respect her, and Madam Yu actually defends them when Wang Lingjiao tries being a Karen to them. She also tells Wang Lingjiao to fuck off when she demands the Jiang servants bring her tea.

Also, Karens are unpleasant women, but not all unpleasant women are Karens. That term is about entitlement and being unreasonable (and often times, racist). Madam Yu is mean and unpleasant to talk to, but she keeps most of her interactions brief and probably doesn't have the time or mental energy to be a Karen or hold a grudge that long. If you want an actual example of a Karen in mdzs, Wang Lingjiao is right there

[add1ctedt0you]

It seems almost like mdzs donghua is a retelling of canon from lwj's pov, where he adds and leaves out some bits, based on his fantasy.

[oizilla]

Every time I read a fiction tagged with 'good madam yu" or "reedemed madam yu" I think to myself, "oh, so she realized she was wrong and apologized and changed." And every single time I get into it and it's like, "nope! Wei Ying is actually the bad guy and madam yu was right to do all the things she did, so he apologies." And I just?? Did yall read the same book????

[k-star-holic]

⁇ 7 Escape ⁇ Lee Joon, it turns out that the successor of the chaebol .. K's next target

[youaremysunshine-court]

Also isn't there a rule that's like protect the innocent?

Does that only count when the innocent are living on land ruled by the lan sect? Or does that only count when the innocents in question arent named wen?

Are they only innocents if they pay taxes to you and family land for you and do all the things that would soil your beautiful white robes? If they stopped doing that would you stop protecting them and still consider yourselves good?