I suspect Zhao Yunlan thinks Chu Shuzhi should have trusted him to handle it.

Yes, but he's conveniently forgetting that Chu Shuzhi has no way of knowing he's handling anything and hasn't just fallen prey to the dream power like Zhu Hong.

Yes! Especially since he's one of the few Dixingren permitted to live in Haixing legally. He doesn't have to hide or scrape to live, but still, home is home.

Yes, that's such a good point! He has more of a choice than most, and despite his distinctly negative feelings about a lot of things regarding Dixing, it's still home. ♥

It seems to have been edited for maximum confusion, though.

Yeah, honestly, I think this sequence is full of a lot of misdirection and red herrings, deliberately confusing dream and reality, and because there's no clear reveal at the end where we get it all spelled out for us which part is which, it ends up not quite working as well as it might have.

Maybe -- but he's clearly taking some pleasure in tormenting Chu Shuzhi, too, which seems counterproductive?

Because he's evil, and he can't resist taunting Chu Shuzhi? Honestly, a lot of what he does strikes me as counterproductive.