[1] Her father was the Northern Wei official Hu Yanzhi (胡延之), and her mother was the daughter of Lu Daoyue (盧道約).
She was not Gao Zhan's first wife, as Gao Zhan, then the Duke of Changguang under Eastern Wei, married a daughter of the Rouran Khan Yujiulü Anluochen, titled the Princess Linhe, in 544 as his wife.
She was said to have initially engaged in sexual relations with her eunuchs—although, in light of their being previously castrated, the traditional historians used the term xiexia (褻狎, "immoral games") rather than "adultery" to describe her acts with them.
In 565, Emperor Wucheng, believing in astrological signs that the imperial reign would be changed, passed the throne to Gao Wei.
In spring 568, Emperor Wucheng became ill, but after treatment by the medically talented official Xu Zhicai (徐之才), recovered.
In winter 568, however, the illness returned, and he quickly tried to summon Xu, who was then the governor of Yan Province (兗州, roughly modern Jining, Shandong), to the capital Yecheng (鄴城, in modern Handan, Hebei), but died before Xu could arrive.
However, when his associates, including Empress Dowager Hu's brother-in-law Feng Zicong (馮子琮), encouraged him to further seize the reins of imperial government, he hesitated—and his troops dissipated when the powerful general Hulü Guang, the father of Gao Wei's wife Empress Hulü, refused to side with him.
Empress Dowager Hu had Feng executed, but tried to preserve Gao Yan's life by keeping him with her at all times.
Also in winter 571, he put her under house arrest and refused to allow her to meet with the nobles.
However, Lu was not satisfied, and this time she would trick Empress Dowager Hu.
Northern Zhou's Emperor Wu created Gao Wei the Duke of Wen.
She died during the early part of the reign of Emperor Wen of Sui (581–600), but the exact year is not known.