After Emperor Taizong's death in 649, Li Zhi succeeded him (as Emperor Gaozong), and in 651 created Li Sujie the Prince of Yong and gave him titularly the important post of prefect of the capital prefecture, Yong Prefecture (雍州, roughly modern Xi'an, Shaanxi).
It was said that Li Sujie could recite 500-word ancient poems and was studious in studying under the scholar Xu Qidan (徐齊聃).
When he grew older, he was made the prefect of Qi Prefecture (岐州, roughly modern Baoji, Shaanxi).
In 657, with the beginning of the elimination of the main political rivals by Empress Wu, Li Sujie's title was changed to the lesser title of Prince of Xun, and around the same time, he was demoted from Qian Prefecture to the less important Shen Prefecture (申州, roughly modern Xinyang, Henan).
Saddened that he was not allowed to see his father, Li Sujie wrote an essay entitled, Commentary on Faithfulness and Filial Piety (忠孝論, which was already lost by the Five Dynasties period).
In 676, Li Sujie was demoted to the title of Prince of Poyang, exiled to Yuan Prefecture (袁州, roughly modern Yichun, Jiangxi), and put under house arrest.
Li Sujie was heading to Luoyang from his then-post Shu Prefecture (舒州, roughly modern Anqing, Anhui), when he heard family members mourning a person's death crying bitterly, and he made the comment, "Dying of illness is fortunate and difficult to get.