zuò​nòng

play tricks on

作弄 zuò​nòng
play tricks on verb
To be toyed with or treated cruelly, often by fate or unpredictable circumstances.

Due to a twist of fate, he suddenly fell ill at the peak of his success.

tease verb
To mock, make fun of, or play a joke on someone for amusement.

He always likes to play tricks on new students; everyone thinks he is mischievous.

Frequency

Movie subtitles
1.37 per million appears in 1% of films
Written text
0.466 per million

Sources

Definitions
CC-CEDICT