Lady Zhu (Sun Xiu) 孫休朱夫人

Lady Zhu, wife of Sun Xiu, was the daughter of Zhu Ju, born to Sun Xiu's elder sister Princess Zhu. At the end of the Chiwu era Sun Quan took her as consort for Sun Xiu. When Sun Xiu became Prince of Langye, she followed him and lived in Danyang. The Biographies of Consorts carry her under the heading 'Lady Zhu' and do not record her personal name. Records, Wu 5 §30–31

According to the Biographies of the Three Successor Rulers, Sun Xiu was enfeoffed as Prince of Langye in the 1st month of the 2nd year of Taiyuan (252) and lived at Hulin, but after Sun Quan died and Zhuge Ke took control of the government, Zhuge Ke did not want the princes to be in militarily important places along the Yangtze, and Sun Xiu was moved to Danyang Commandery. Records, Wu 3 §20

During the Jianxing era, when Sun Jun monopolized power, the members of the imperial clan were all troubled by it, but because the wife of Quan Shang was Sun Jun's elder sister, only Princess Quan (Sun Luban) enjoyed his protection. Earlier, when Sun He was Crown Prince, Princess Quan had slandered and harmed Sun He's mother, Lady Wang, and sought to depose the Crown Prince and set up the Prince of Lu, Sun Ba, but Princess Zhu would not go along, and so a rift arose between the two princesses. Records, Wu 5 §21 · 31

During the Wufeng era, Sun Yi (孫儀) plotted to kill Sun Jun, but the plot was discovered and he was put to death. Princess Quan seized the opportunity to say that Princess Zhu had plotted together with Sun Yi, and Sun Jun unjustly put Princess Zhu to death. Sun Xiu, afraid, sent his wife back to Jianye, and the two parted holding hands and weeping. When she reached Jianye, Sun Jun sent her back to Sun Xiu. Records, Wu 5 §32

During the Taiping era, Sun Liang learned that Princess Zhu had been harmed by Princess Quan and asked why Princess Zhu had died. Princess Quan, frightened, said that she did not know and that everything had been reported by Zhu Ju's two sons, Zhu Xiong (朱熊) and Zhu Sun (朱損), and Sun Liang killed Zhu Xiong and Zhu Sun. Because Zhu Sun's wife was Sun Jun's younger sister, Sun Chen grew ever more wary of Sun Liang and in the end deposed Sun Liang and set up Sun Xiu. Records, Wu 5 §32–33

On the yiyou day of the 8th month of the 5th year of Yong'an (262), Sun Xiu made Lady Zhu empress. On the wuzi day he made his son Sun Wan Crown Prince and proclaimed a general amnesty. Records, Wu 3 §37Records, Wu 5 §33

When Sun Xiu died at the age of thirty on the guiwei day of the 7th month of the 7th year of Yong'an (264), the ministers honored his wife as Empress Dowager. Shu had just fallen and Jiaozhi had rebelled, the realm was in fear and wanted a ruler of mature age, and Wan Yu, Left Army Director, repeatedly praised Sun Hao to the Chancellor Puyang Xing and the General of the Left Zhang Bu. When Puyang Xing and Zhang Bu persuaded Sun Xiu's consort, the Empress Dowager Zhu, that they wished to make Sun Hao the heir, she said, 'I am a widow; how could I consider the affairs of the state? As long as Wu suffers no loss and the ancestral temples have someone to rely on, that will be enough.' So Sun Hao was welcomed and set on the throne. Records, Wu 3 §45–46 · 48–49Records, Wu 5 §33

A little over a month after taking the throne, Sun Hao demoted her to Empress Jing and had her residence called the Anding Palace. The Biographies of the Three Successor Rulers records that in the 9th month of the 1st year of Yuanxing (264) Sun Hao demoted the Empress Dowager to Empress Jing, posthumously named his father Sun He Emperor Wen, and honored his mother, Consort He, as Empress Dowager. Records, Wu 5 §33Records, Wu 3 §50

In the 7th month of the 1st year of Ganlu (265), Sun Hao drove Empress Jing, Lady Zhu, to her death. She did not die in the main hall, and her funeral was held in a small house within the park, so people knew that she had not died of illness, and there was no one who did not grieve bitterly. Sun Hao also sent Sun Xiu's four sons to the small city of Wu and soon afterwards sent men after them and killed the two eldest. She was buried together with Sun Xiu in the Ding Mausoleum. Records, Wu 3 §51 · 53Records, Wu 5 §33

In his assessment of the Biographies of Consorts, Chen Shou said that Duke Huan of Qi and Sun Quan both had the clear eye to recognize men of worth and the ambition of outstanding men, but failed to distinguish the sons of the principal wife from those of concubines, so that the inner quarters and the court fell into disorder and calamity flowed down to their descendants. Lady Zhu is not named separately in the assessment. Records, Wu 5 §42