[1]) However, Jia Chong declined (because he feared Guo Huai's tantrums, so historians claim[2]) and only built a villa for Li Wan outside of Luoyang and had no communication with her.
[3] Another account related how Guo Huai decided to pay Li Wan a visit in spite of Jia Chong's opposition.
Dressed in her full regalia and taking a large retinue of attendants and slaves, she went outside of the city and strutted into Li Wan's residence.
However, when Li Wan rose to greet her, Guo Huai was so awed by her charisma that she supposedly found her knees giving way and she knelt.
[2][4] In 271, Jia Chong desperately wanted to avoid a military assignment, so he decided to have one of his daughters to marry the developmentally disabled crown prince, Sima Zhong.
The emperor initially rejected the idea, as he preferred Wei Guan's daughter, who was mild-tempered, beautiful, tall, and fair-skinned, as opposed to the Jia sisters, who were not only jealous like their mother, but also ugly, short, and dark-skinned.
[2] When Sima Zhong became the emperor in 290, he made Jia Nanfeng the empress, and Guo Huai became the Lady of Guangcheng and enjoyed great power.
Unlike her depiction by historians, the commemorative text on her tomb stele gives a flattering account and praises her intelligence, reverence, and frugality, among many other virtues.