Tuo, whose wife was a sister of Yang Su's, had a female servant named Xu Ani (徐阿尼), who worshipped cat spirits and was capable to have those spirits kill people for her. At this time, both Empress Dugu and Yang Su's wife, Lady Zheng, was seriously ill, and it was suspected that they were afflicted by cat spirits. Emperor Wen suspected Dugu Tuo and had the official Gao Jiong investigate and Gao reported that it was indeed Dugu Tuo who instigated the matter. Emperor Wen ordered Dugu Tuo and Lady Yang to commit suicide, but Empress Dugu went on a three-day hunger strike to try to save them, stating, "If Tuo had harmed the people, I would not dare to say anything, but his crime was on my account, and therefore I dare to beg you to spare his life." Dugu Tuo's younger brother, Dugu Zheng (獨孤整), also pleaded earnestly, and Emperor Wen spared them, reducing Dugu Tuo to commoner rank and forcing Lady Yang to become a Buddhist nun. Over the years, the relationship between Emperor Wen and Empress Dugu was still largely loving. However, on one occasion, when Emperor Wen happened to see the beautiful granddaughter of Yuchi Jiong, who had been forced into slave labor after her grandfather's death, he had sexual relations with her. When Empress Dugu found out, she had Lady Yuchi killed. In anger, Emperor Wen rode away from the palace on a horse and refused to return. Gao Jiong and Yang Su had to track him down and urge him to return to the palace, with Gao stating, "Your Imperial Majesty, how can you abandon the empire on account of a woman?" When Emperor Wen did return to the palace after midnight, Empress Dugu was still waiting for him, and she wept and begged him for forgiveness. Gao and Yang Su subsequently hosted a banquet for them, and their differences went away. When Empress Dugu heard that Gao Jiong, whom she had respected previously, refer to her as "a woman," she became secretly resentful of him. Later, she became particularly angry at Gao over his marital relations, as after his wife died, she suggested Emperor Wen find him another wife, but he declined, stating that he was getting old and beginning to lose sexual urges and did not need another wife—and soon thereafter, his concubine bore a son. Empress Dugu pointed out that,