Cui Xuanwei
In 705, a coup led by Zhang Jianzhi, Cui Xuanwei, Jing Hui, Huan Yanfan, and Yuan Shuji removed Wu Zetian and returned Emperor Zhongzong to the throne. At that time, Shangguan Wan'er became an imperial consort, as a powerful concubine of Emperor Zhongzong, carrying the rank of "Jieyu" (), the 14th rank for an imperial consort. (It is not stated in history whether she became his concubine before or after his return to the throne.) Emperor Zhongzong put her in charge of drafting edicts and other imperial orders. However, she carried on an affair with Emperor Zhongzong's cousin and Wu Zetian's nephew Wu Sansi, the Prince of Liang; through her, Wu Sansi became a trusted advisor of Emperor Zhongzong and a lover of Emperor Zhongzong's wife Empress Wei as well. (As a result, Zhang and his cohorts soon lost power and died or were killed in exile.) Subsequently, at her suggestion to Empress Wei for the latter to emulate Wu Zetian, Empress Wei submitted formal proposals to Emperor Zhongzong to require the people to observe three-year mourning periods for their mothers who had been divorced by their fathers (previously, such a mourning period was not required for a divorced mother) and reducing the period where a man was considered an adult male (and therefore subject to military and labor conscription) from the ages to 20 to 59, to the ages of 22 to 58, in order to try to gain the people's gratitude. Emperor Zhongzong approved the proposals.