in 96, emperor he created one of his favorites, consort yin—who came from the noble lineage of a brother of emperor guangwu's wife, empress yin lihua—empress. she was described as beautiful but short and clumsy, and also jealous. in particular, she became jealous of another of emperor he's favorites, consort deng sui, who also came from a noble lineage, as the granddaughter of emperor guangwu's prime minister deng yu (鄧禹). consort deng was described to have tried to alleviate this situation by acting humbling before empress yin, but this further drew her wrath. once, when emperor he was ill, empress yin made the remark that if she became empress dowager, the dengs would be slaughtered—and upon hearing that remark, consort deng considered committing suicide, and one of her ladies in waiting saved her by falsely telling her that the emperor had recovered. however, the emperor did soon recover, so consort deng and her family escaped a terrible fate.