梁冀
This death started a chain of events that led to Liang Ji's downfall later that year. Liang, in order to continue to control Emperor Huan, had adopted his wife's beautiful cousin (the stepdaughter of her uncle Liang Ji (梁紀—note different characters despite the same pronunciation)), Deng Mengnü (), as his own daughter, changing her family name to Liang. He and Sun gave Liang Mengnü to Emperor Huan as an imperial consort. After Empress Liang's death, they hoped that she would eventually be made empress. To completely control her, Liang Ji planned to have her mother, Lady Xuan (), killed: he sent assassins against her but the assassination was foiled by the powerful eunuch Yuan She (), a neighbor of Lady Xuan.