That year, he was selected to publicly pronounce Emperor Wu's commentaries on the Xiao Jing—an honor for junior officials—and from that point, he was repeatedly promoted.
This was particularly the case after 524, when Zhu correctly judged that the rival Northern Wei's general Yuan Faseng (元法僧) was truly surrendering his garrison of Pengcheng to Liang.
Emperor Wu initially hesitated at accepting Hou's defection, given his long-standing peace with Eastern Wei, but Zhu, seeing how deep in his heart Emperor Wu wanted more territory, greatly encouraged him to accept Hou.
Emperor Wu made Hou the governor of Southern Yu Province (南豫州, modern central Anhui), but at Zhu's suggestion, entered into peace talks with Eastern Wei.
Zhu, who was the dominant statesmen at Emperor Wu's court, accepted Hou's bribes but refused to intercede.
Emperor Wu, after Zhu convinced him that Hou posed no actual threat, accepted—and when Hou saw this, he rebelled in 548, claiming that he was seeking to clear the court of evil officials—Zhu, along with Xu Lin (徐麟), Lu Yan (陸驗), and Zhou Shizhen (周石珍).
When Emperor Wu asked his crown prince Xiao Gang whether the crimes that Hou accused Zhu of were true, Xiao Gang indicated that they were true—but subsequently spoke against Emperor Wu's thought of executing Zhu, arguing that doing so would only encourage Hou.
The author of Book of Liang Yao Silian, when summarizing Zhu Yi's life, attributed his political successes in Emperor Wu's court to his craftiness.
[5] Zhu Yi, along with Zhao Gao, Wang Mang, and An Lushan was listed as one of the four treacherous Chinese historical figures in the monogatari The Tale of the Heike.