Ohhhh, that first point was not as comforting as he seemed to think it was. Shen Yuan lets out a quiet, bitter laugh, saying, "Death would be preferable, compared to what this person wants to do to me."

The rest, however...He forced himself to take a slow, deep breath, circulating his qi for a moment until he felt like he could speak calmly again. "He isn't entirely unreasonable, however. If he was the one behind that episode just now, and the nightmares I've been having, then maybe, if he could be convinced to stop for long enough to let me explain myself..." In the book, Binghe had forgiven several people who'd wronged him nearly as badly as the original Shen Qingqiu. Of course those people were all beautiful women he then added to his harem, while male enemies just ended up dead, but he was trying to be optimistic about his chances here here.

"I'll try to explain, but first let me ask you something." And now he does turn to look Viktor in the eye, watching his face as he asks, "Do you know, or have you ever heard of, someone named Luo Binghe?"

...He can already guess what the answer's going to be before Viktor even opens his mouth.