Following her husband’s death, Lu Zhi did not immediately announce his passing. She waited three days to ensure that her son Liu Ying would become heir instead of Ru Yi. For the following seven years, Liu Ying would be the technical emperor of the Han Dynasty, but the real power was in Lu Zhi who used her son as a puppet and forced him to do what she told him to do.
This changed, when one day Lu Zhi out of pure jealousy from the affection they had been shown from her husband, killed Ru Yi by poisoning his wine. She then, took Lady Qi, cut off her hands and feet, burned her ears, dug out her eyes with spoons and forced medicine down her throat so she could not speak. Lu Zhi then confined Qi into a toilet. When she brought her son down to show him what remained of Lady Qi, he wept and passed all affairs of state to his mother.
This changed, when one day Lu Zhi out of pure jealousy from the affection they had been shown from her husband, killed Ru Yi by poisoning his wine. She then, took Lady Qi, cut off her hands and feet, burned her ears, dug out her eyes with spoons and forced medicine down her throat so she could not speak. Lu Zhi then confined Qi into a toilet. When she brought her son down to show him what remained of Lady Qi, he wept and passed all affairs of state to his mother.