Emperor Wen, hearing this, rushed to her bedchambers and forced her to spare the child.
However, because he was still within the three-year mourning period for his father Emperor Wu and supposed to abstain from sexual relations, he hid Liu Shao's birth from the public and only announced it in 426.
In order to test Emperor Wen's affection for her, Empress Yuan asked Consort Pan to request an amount of money six to 10 times greater than what Emperor Wen had been giving her.
Emperor Wen approved Consort Pan's request; from this point on, Empress Yuan was filled with anger.
Emperor Wen mourned her greatly and had the talented writer Yan Yanzhi (顏延之) write a beautiful ode dedicated to her.