Emperor Mingxianzong's wife, Wu Shi, was a native of Suncheon (present-day Beijing) and was from a famous family. His father Wu Jun was the commander of Yulin Qianwei; his uncle Sun Bo had saved Zhu Qizhen's life in Cao Jixiang's rebellion and was made the Marquis of Huaining; and his elder brother Wu Ying was the commander of The Official Yulin Wei. She was made empress in July 1464 and deposed only a month later. History is called "Wu Abolished Queen".
At the beginning, Emperor Yingzong personally selected three candidates for the empress dowager Zhu Mishen, namely Wu, Wang, and Bai. Emperor Yingzong had not yet officially determined who to choose as the crown princess, and he himself became seriously ill. Before dying, Emperor Yingzong told Empress Qian and Zhu Jianshen's birth mother, Consort Zhou, that he felt that wu was better among the three, and asked them to conduct a more rigorous examination and establish an empress candidate as soon as possible. In the first month of 1464, Emperor Yingzong collapsed, and the crown prince Zhu Jianshen took the throne, changing the yuan to Become a hua for Emperor Mingxianzong. After Emperor Xianzong ascended the throne, according to his thoughts, he wanted to appoint Wan Zhen'er as empress, but with the body of a palace girl who was nineteen years older than him and was a lowly palace girl, he wanted to sit on the empress throne, which was almost a dream. Empress Qian, after careful observation, felt that Wu was better, which was consistent with Emperor Yingzong's last wishes. So on July 20, 1464, Wu was made empress, and Xianzong had to marry Empress Wu, while Yu Wanshi could only give her the title of a small concubine.
However, after the marriage, Empress Wu found that Zhu Jianshen did not love her, and she was still obsessed with Wan Zhen'er as always, and made Wan Zhen'er a noble concubine. So Empress Wu deliberately looked for stubble with Wan Zhen'er, and Wan Zhen'er collided with her, and she took the opportunity to scold Wan Guifei. Emperor Xianzong knew that Wan Zhen'er had been beaten, and his heart was so distressed that he was full of anger and went to the empress's bedchamber to ask for the guilt, and in front of Wan Zhen'er, he ordered the staff to rebuke the empress and take the breath for her. Wan Shi was not satisfied, because she was afraid that Empress Wu would retaliate in the future, and simply let Xianzong depose her, which was the best strategy. Emperor Xianzong was embarrassed because the empress's dethronement was not a child's play.
To this end, he deliberately beat the eunuch Niu Yuqu into a confession, making him insist that he had accepted a bribe from Empress Wu's father before passing on the holy will of the former emperor and making Wu the empress of the Middle Palace. Emperor Mingxianzong got Niu Yu's "confession" and immediately rushed to see Empress Qian and her birth mother, Consort Zhou, who knew Empress Wu's disposition and did not agree to depose empress dowager. However, Princess Zhou was jealous of Emperor Yingzong's favor to Empress Qian during her lifetime, and deliberately contradicted Empress Qian and supported her son to depose the empress. As a result, Empress Wu, who had only been in the palace for a month, became the "Empress Wu", while Wan Zhen'er completely dominated the harem.
In August 1487, Emperor Xianzong died, and was succeeded by crown prince Zhu Youfan, known as Emperor Xiaozong of Ming. Remembering Wu's kindness in those years, he released Wu, who had been abandoned for more than twenty years, from the Cold Palace and raised her as a mother, and ordered Wu's dress and meals to be provided according to the empress's system, but did not formally rehabilitate her or give her a formal name. Her brother Wu Ying was promoted from "Yulin Wei Commander" to "Du Commander Youshi" and entered the Jinyi Wei Hundred Households. Wu's life was full of wind and rain, and in his later years, he was rewarded with a little kindness because of his good deeds in that year.
In 1509, Wu died at the age of 60. The eunuch Liu Jin wanted to burn her body and bury her body in accordance with the system of ordinary palace women. Wang Jun, a university scholar, thought it was impossible. Emperor Wuzong of Ming also felt that Wu had the grace of preserving and nurturing his father Emperor Xiaozong, but was abolished by his grandfather Emperor Xianzong and could not be buried together in Maoling, so he agreed to follow the suggestions of the university scholars Li Dongyang and Wang Jun, and use the funeral specifications of Emperor Mingyingzong's concubine Wang to bury him in Jinshan, Beijing, but without a nickname.