Oh yeah, that makes sense! The book says that Zhao would have climbed the social ladder pretty fast (if he hadn't been chosen Guardian).

Now that I think about it, there are places where I remember him being manipulating, even towards Shen Wei. The scene in the show where he's trying to make him "pay back" and letting him clean his apartment comes to mind immediately.

I will definitely keep looking for this in my book reread (waiting for the rest to be translated).