In later life she converted to Buddhism and remained single thereafter, largely retiring from the world. Even in her eighties, however, she was still active in the literary world, entertaining female artists such as Huang Yuanjie and Yi Lin at her home on the West Lake after the collapse of the Ming Dynasty. With her Buddhist friend Yang Jiangzi (the sister of Xue's fellow courtesan Liu Yin), she made pilgrimages to sacred sites such as Mount Lu and Mount Emei. The date of her death is uncertain; some sources suggest that she may have lived into the 1650s whilst others put her death in the late 1630s or early 1640s. Qian Qianyi mentions her death in a work published in 1652, so it is evident that she must have died before this date.