On September 19th, the second year of Jiande (573), Emperor Yuwen Yong of the Northern Zhou Dynasty married Yang Lihua as the crown princess and Yu Yunna as the crown prince. In June of the first year of Zheng Xuan (578), Yuwen Yong died, and Yu Wenyun became emperor, calling himself the Northern Zhou Dynasty. On the third day of leap June, Yu Wenyun canonized Yang Lihua as the queen.
On February 20th, the first year of the elephant (579), Yu Wenzhong passed the throne to Prince Yu Wenchan, calling himself Emperor Tianyuan and making Yang Lihua the Queen of Tianyuan. On the first day of April, Yuwen came to establish Yuwen Chan's biological mother Zhu Manyue as the Queen of Tianyuan. On July 23rd, the day after the Yuan Empress Zhu Manyue ascended the throne, the concubine Leyuan was appointed as the Tian You Empress, and Chen Yueyi was the Tian Zuo Empress, becoming the Four Empresses together with Yang Lihua.
In February of the second year of the Elephant (580), Yu Wenyun ordered the word "big" to be added to the titles of all queens. Yang Lihua is the great queen of Tianyuan, Zhu Manyue is the great queen, Le Yuan is the great queen of God bless, and Chen Yueyi is the great queen of Tianzuo. In March, Li Feizi, Wei Chi Fan Fan (Wei Chi Fan Fan), became the Queen of Tian Dong University, tied with Yang Lihua and other five Empresses.
Yang Lihua is gentle and not jealous, so the other four queens and nine concubines in the harem love and respect her. Yu Wenkun later became more fatuous and tyrannical, and his mood was abnormal. He once accused Yang Lihua for no reason and tried to impose charges on her. However, Yang Lihua's behavior was serene, and his attitude showed no signs of flexibility. Yu Wenyun was very angry, so he sentenced Yang Lihua to death and forced her to commit suicide. Yang Lihua's mother, Dugu Jialuo, rushed into the palace to plead for Yang Lihua, even kowtowing with blood, and Yang Lihua was saved from death.
In the second year of the elephant (580), Yu Wenyun died, and Yu Wenchan addressed Yang Lihua as the Empress Dowager and lived in Hongsheng Palace. At the beginning, due to illness, Yang Lihua's father, Emperor Wendi, was ordered to wait on him in the palace. When Yu Wenyun was dying, Liu Yun, Zheng Yi and others took the opportunity to falsely preach the will, and appointed Emperor Wendi to assist the government. Yang Lihua was not involved in this matter at first, but because Yu Wenchan, who succeeded to the throne, was young, he was worried that power would fall into other families, which was not good for him. He was very happy to learn that Liu Yun, Zheng Yi and others conveyed this imperial edict. Yang Lihua later learned that his father Emperor Wen of Sui was unfaithful, and his dissatisfaction was manifested in his words and deeds. In kaiyuan year (58 1), Emperor Wendi of Sui Dynasty usurped the Northern Zhou Dynasty and established the Sui Dynasty as Emperor Wendi of Sui Dynasty. Yang Lihua can't accept it at the moment, and he is even more resentful. Although Wendi can't blame her, he feels guilty about her.
In 586, Emperor Wen of Sui Dynasty named Yang Lihua Princess Leping. Later, Emperor Wendi of Sui Dynasty discussed Yang Lihua's remarriage, but Yang Lihua resolutely disagreed, and the matter went away.