I Wish We Got More Insight Into Madame Yu And Jyl Because The Eldest Daughter Syndrome Is So Fierce And I Have Thoughts - Tumblr Posts

Rereading MDZS vol 3 (oof ouch my heart) -- trying to pin down my interpretation of Madame Yu is still so interesting. I fully think that she recognized Wei Wuxian's potential and saw that he was currently exhibiting leadership maturity while her son was very clearly still juvenile (love that for JC tbh). In the scene where the kid is taken by the Wens for the kite, WWX jumps into management mode and JC is freaking out with the other disciples. Madame Yu overhears that. I don't think Wei Wuxian would be lead disciple only because of age (though it may be just that) and he clearly had the respect of the younger disciples (oof ouch my heart again). She could have held him back to defend Lotus Pier, but I think she saw how critical he was to Jiang Cheng's (and maybe also Yanli's) survival. And then she drilled in that he owed them, that anything less that absolute self-sacrificing dedication is because he is spiteful, a leech, selfish. JFM's backbone is Madame Yu (it seems) and I think WWX is JC's and she recognizes that, despite all of JCs bluster. She bound WWX to JC with Zidian intentionally, then affirmed his emotional bind to him with her words.

There's also something to servitude (class) and servitude (wife) here but that may be me over reading at that point 🤭.