She later also gave birth to a daughter, Liu Huiyuan (劉惠媛, the later Princess Yixing).
In 420, after Liu Yu seized the throne from Emperor Gong of Jin and established Liu Song as its emperor, he created her an imperial consort, but not an empress, as she was not his wife.
Initially, Empress Dowager Zhang returned her empress dowager seal and moved to Wu Commandery (around present-day Suzhou, Jiangsu), where her son was exiled and killed.
After Emperor Wen arrived in Jiankang and assumed the throne, he honored her as Princess Dowager of Yingyang (as Emperor Shao carried the title Prince of Yingyang between his removal and his death).
She died in 426, after having seen her son's killers largely killed by Emperor Wen earlier that year.