The palace banquet held before the New Year was extremely lively. During the banquet, everyone toasted each other and vented their emotions. Whether it was to make friends or to socialize, everyone drank a little.

Alcohol can add to the fun, but it can also make people drunk. Some people may make mistakes and act crazy after drinking too much, but no one expected Zhu Zhengying to behave in such an ugly way.

Everyone in the capital knows that the men of the Zhu family don't have any real abilities, and they have their current status thanks to women. People look down on them behind their backs, but they still flatter and curry favor with them in public, because the Empress Dowager's surname is Zhu.

With the fifth prince around, it is unknown whether he will replace the crown prince and ascend the throne in the future.

Therefore, few people have a bad relationship with the Zhu family. No matter how much they dislike them, they can still pretend to be nice to them.

Zhu Zhengying is the highest-ranking official in the court of this generation of the Zhu family, the Minister of Rites. He is usually most particular about his manners and knowledge. No matter if he is a fool at heart, he looks good on the outside and can still fool people.

Tonight, many people came over to drink and chat with him to build relationships. He never turned anyone away and greeted them with a smile. He seemed to be quite popular.

After all, he is the fifth prince's uncle. There is no shortage of fence-sitters in the court.

Even Emperor Yongping, who sat in a high position, gave him face and found a topic to chat and joke with him to show his closeness and favor.

Not only that, Emperor Yongping also treated the Empress's family with great affection, giving them wine and dishes. If you didn't know, you would have thought that the emperor and the empress had a deep affection for each other.

Only the crown prince seemed to be sitting on the bench and did not receive any attention from Emperor Yongping. Naturally, the forces behind him would not allow Emperor Yongping to show any goodwill.

Everyone saw this and had different thoughts.

Although they were not sure which son Emperor Yongping was most satisfied with inheriting the throne, they were sure that the emperor really disliked the crown prince!

That's right. The prince has no support from his family. Although he is the eldest son, he seems to be incompatible with the emperor. When he was still in the prince's mansion, he encountered accidents one after another. After being forced to leave home, he was also plagued by bad luck. He survived many dangers and finally became the prince, but he was not taken seriously. He even had to use tricks to fight for his place in the court...

Emperor Yongping has long been known among the people as an unkind father, and this bad reputation can be said to be closely related to the crown prince. It would be strange if Emperor Yongping liked this son!

Especially when compared with the story of Xu Huaiyi who risked his life to save his son, Emperor Yongping's past behavior seemed even more unbearable, but due to the emperor's majesty, no one dared to complain.

But Emperor Yongping must have known what was going on. You see, on such an occasion today, he deliberately did not give the Crown Prince face.

However, the prince was of a good nature and well-mannered character. He looked calm and composed without any change in expression.

The other princes, relying on their young age, surrounded Emperor Yongping and acted coquettishly, making the emperor happy and giving him rewards from time to time.

Xu Huaiyi watched this scene of family happiness coldly, calculating the time silently in his heart, hoping that Emperor Yongping would still be able to laugh later.

As the banquet progressed, the atmosphere became more and more heated.

There was constant singing and dancing in the hall. The dancers, dressed seductively, swayed to the music. Their every frown and smile were truly enchanting.

This is the time for them to change their destiny. If they can be noticed by someone, perhaps they can escape from their suffering. The dancers naturally work very hard.

Some people started to have some thoughts and their eyes gradually became hot, but since they were in public, they didn't lose their composure. They just wanted to do it in their own backyard later.

However, someone couldn't restrain himself and took advantage of the alcohol to hug the dancer closest to him. In front of everyone, he held her in his arms, touched her all over, and kept spitting out dirty words.

Everyone was stunned!

Some pedantic and upright people immediately denounced it, "This is ridiculous and a disgrace to society!"

Most of the people were sighing in their hearts. This Zhu Zhengying was really crazy. The emperor just gave him some face, but he became so frivolous that he didn't even know his last name. He behaved so ugly in public, not only ruining the reputation of the Zhu family, but also making Concubine De and the fifth prince lose face.

Defei was so frightened that her face turned pale. She had already lost all sense of propriety and asked people to stop it.

The fifth prince was still young, and when he caught a glimpse of Emperor Yongping’s livid face, he was so frightened that he burst into tears.

A farce that started unexpectedly and ended in a sloppy and ridiculous way.

Zhu Zhengying was kneeling on the ground, trembling. After being splashed with cold water, he became more sober, realized his mistakes, and kowtowed repeatedly to apologize.

Some people watched the show, while others pleaded for mercy. In the end, Emperor Yongping demoted him from his official position, fined him one year's salary, and ordered him to reflect on his mistakes behind closed doors for three months on the grounds that he had behaved improperly in front of the emperor.

The punishment was neither light nor heavy. Zhu Zhengying thanked the emperor in tears and left in disgrace.

The banquet could not go on. Before leaving, Emperor Yongping looked at Xu Huaiyi meaningfully.

Xu Huaiyi looked at him without any shame and with an expression of great respect.

When they got home, Gu Huanxi asked him how he did it, "Did you tamper with Zhu Zhengying's wine glass?"

Xu Huaiyi shook his head. "It would be easy for someone to find evidence of me. If we investigate, it might implicate a large group of people. I bribed that dancer..."

Gu Huanxi suddenly realized that most of the dancers who could enter the palace to perform were from the Jiaofangsi, and were originally daughters of some families, but because their fathers or brothers committed crimes, they were unlucky enough to be implicated and crushed into the mud.

If there is a chance to escape from the quagmire, who would not want to seize it?

"Have you arranged their retreat?"

"Well, someone will go to the Jiaofangsi tonight to set fire and rob people. I have found substitutes for them. After they leave the capital, they can live freely under the identities of other good families."

"Will the Zhu family have any doubts?"

"It's useless to doubt. Zhu Zhengying is a hypocritical man. He looks very respectable, but he is actually a thief and a prostitute. This is not a secret. Many people know about it. At most, they think that Zhu Zhengying drank alcohol and his true nature was exposed. Even if we ask the imperial physician to check, they can't find anything. I didn't use any medicine on him."

Gu Huanxi said, "Even so, Emperor Yongping would probably suspect that it was your revenge."

The main reason was that it was too coincidental. Gu Xiaoyu was framed in the Zhu family and almost married a girl from the Zhu family. Only a few days later, Zhu Zhengying behaved improperly in front of the palace and molested a dancer in public. His reputation was ruined. With a little imagination, it is easy to think that this was a revenge by the prince's faction.

Xu Huaiyi said nonchalantly, "So what if he's suspicious? He has no evidence anyway. Besides, isn't he suspicious of me enough? Even if it's not just this one incident, if he still has a conscience, he should be ashamed. His own son was framed, but he didn't help seek justice, and he even showed favor to the Zhu family. Ha, then he can't do anything if I support Xiaoyu."

"It's really chilling. I really don't know what he was thinking."

"What else can I think? He is just trying to flatter the Zhu family and step on Xiaoyu and me. In his eyes, everyone is a chess piece to balance the political situation. Would he have feelings for a chess piece?

Once you become an emperor, you can no longer be considered a person of flesh and blood!"