One of the things I like about Yu Ziyuan as a character is how uncompromisingly HERSELF she is -- Jacy introduced me to the chengyu 軟硬不吃, which translates literally as "soft hard will not eat" and means basically unmoved by either persuasion or force. (I'm gonna directly quote here because Jacy's so cool).

because she doesn't yield to jfm or jyl's softness, but she cannot be broken by force either. so i've always associated that with her. and i love the 不吃 part too, like will not eat. there's a sense of refusal, of not taking what the world has told her to consume.

Yu Ziyuan would be among the MOST messy and unsympathetic of protagonists, but she would be so cool. She doesn't ask for the reader's understanding or acceptance, either.

(Although, because I'm me, there would undoubtedly be a theme of growth and atonement and eventual reconciliation -- but hopefully without forcing her to bend too much along the way.)