Chapter 061: Don’t Compare Yourself to Li Ruobing

Chapter 061: Don’t Compare Yourself to Li Ruobing

“Boss, it’s Tao Manying… she says she has an appointment with you…” The receptionist said it again, her voice pitched low, almost muffled, as if she’d turned away from the visitor and cupped the phone to whisper.

“Are you sure?” Even Li Ruobing didn’t know why she still found it hard to believe.

“I’m sure, boss.”

“I’ll come down right now. Ask her to wait a moment.” Li Ruobing hung up, drew a breath, and pushed down the excitement rising in her chest. She swept one last glance across the conference room. “Meeting’s over.”

Every executive in the room froze, still seated, staring at her.

What? The meeting was over? Just like that?

Li Ruobing said nothing more. She walked straight out, and naturally her secretary and assistants fell in behind her.

Worth noting—Li Ruobing kept only one female secretary, but assistants she had plenty of. Even Wu Chen was nominally one of her assistants, though his was a position that existed on paper alone. He rarely came to the office.

He found her? How did he find her? How could he possibly track her down? In one day? He actually got her here in one day? How did he do it? What did he even do? Wasn’t he playing games all yesterday morning? Didn’t he go transfer that house with Atai in the afternoon? He…

Out of the conference room, Li Ruobing led the way toward the stairwell, thoughts running in an unbroken mutter the whole time.

She already knew about the house—Li Ruotai handing Wu Chen the villa in Donghai Huafu yesterday. Li Ruotai had told her himself, calling right after the transfer went through.

Right now she was on her way to see Tao Manying.

Tao Manying, who genuinely mattered enormously to Huancai.

And yet Li Ruobing’s head was full of nothing but Wu Chen.

She wanted to call him directly and demand an explanation.

But Tao Manying was waiting downstairs, and the company needed a spokesperson too badly. As a businesswoman, Li Ruobing still knew how to sort what mattered most.

Downstairs.

She led her people to the thirty-first floor. From a distance she spotted Tao Manying, glasses and mask already tucked away, surrounded by a knot of young staff—employees who had only gotten to work not long before—clamoring for autographs.

“The boss is here.”

“Quick, back to your desks, back to your desks.”

“Go, go, go.”

No one could say who shouted first, but the whole crowd of young men and women abandoned their autographs on the spot, heads down, scattering like mice at the sight of a cat. Within seconds the space around the front desk stood empty.

Tao Manying turned to look at Li Ruobing, who was already closing the distance.

The two women lifted their hands almost in the same instant.

“Miss Tao, hello. My apologies for the poor welcome—these past few days have had me so buried in work I forgot to brief the front desk.” Li Ruobing offered her most professional smile and shook Tao Manying’s hand.

She still had no idea why Wu Chen hadn’t told her, but one thing was certain: Tao Manying was here because of him. She couldn’t afford to look rattled in front of an outsider, so she’d have to smooth this over as she went.

“President Li, you’re too kind. Wow, President Li, you’re so beautiful—your skin is incredible. I never imagined the president of a major company, working herself to the bone day and night, could still have skin like this. I’m envious. What’s your secret?” Tao Manying started laying on the flattery the instant she opened her mouth.

Not only because Lei Cheng had told her to.

But because Li Ruobing had genuinely taken her by surprise.

Looks-wise, the two of them were both beautiful, but Tao Manying felt Li Ruobing’s skin really was better than her own—small differences that, in her eyes, loomed large.

On screen Tao Manying was breathtaking, but in person she was too thin. Cameras added visual weight, so to look properly slender on film, she had to be even thinner in reality.

There was also the matter of her work. Period dramas meant constant, heavy makeup, and no cosmetic, however good, could withstand that kind of daily overuse. Add the all-nighters that came with filming, and her skin really had fallen just that little bit short of Li Ruobing’s.

Not that her own skin was bad. Li Ruobing’s was simply better.

As for bearing—the two of them were different types entirely, not really comparable.

What truly stunned Tao Manying at first glance was Li Ruobing’s presence. Her aura.

Damn intimidating.

More intimidating than the wives of some older high-ranking officials.

Composed, unhurried, and razor-sharp beneath it.

The kind of presence that made her, the moment she walked into a room, its only center of gravity.

That was where the gap between them was widest.

“Hahaha, Miss Tao, you really do know how to talk. You’re the beautiful one here. I’m just a businesswoman—how could I compare to a star like you? If your fans heard that, they’d never forgive me…” Li Ruobing said it half-joking, smiling, while doubt stirred fresh in her mind.

Buttering up Tao Manying a little—that was simply good business sense in a moment like this.

But why had Tao Manying come out swinging with compliments the second she arrived?

What was the angle?

A star who’d simmered along for years before suddenly exploding overnight, and instead of getting full of herself, she’d turned even more deferential?

“Miss Tao, this way, please.” After a few more pleasantries, Li Ruobing led her upstairs to the office.

Following Li Ruobing to the thirty-third floor, Tao Manying noticed bodyguards stationed all along the corridor.

A sudden weight settled over her.

Bodyguards alone wouldn’t have bothered her—she had plenty of her own, simply hadn’t brought them today, since this wasn’t a public event and she needed to keep a low profile.

But set against what Lei Cheng had told her beforehand, the sight only sharpened the sense of distance between them.

Women loved to compare. And the more beautiful a woman was, the more she loved it.

Family background—Tao Manying had heard of the Li family, though she didn’t know much. Enough to know there was no competing there.

Looks—she’d already admitted it herself, that she fell slightly short of Li Ruobing. Not a matter of features, just that her skin wasn’t what it had been at eighteen or nineteen.

Presence—Tao Manying was simply outmatched.

She couldn’t quite explain why this sudden feeling of inferiority had crept up on her.

It was as if, star or not, all she really had was a pretty shell—something people noticed for the face and little else—while Li Ruobing’s beauty was almost incidental, one ingredient among many in a light that radiated from somewhere deeper.

Her bearing, her presence—she only had to stand there, and people felt, instinctively, that she was formidable.

Dazzling.

If Wu Chen had been in the room just then, and had known what was running through Tao Manying’s head, he probably would have offered her one piece of advice.

Don’t compare yourself to Li Ruobing.

What that woman carried wasn’t beauty alone.

Above all, don’t try measuring presence against her. Li Ruobing’s strength came from somewhere in her bones—no woman her age stood a chance against it.

Compare yourself to Li Ruobing, and you were only asking to be humbled. No amount of beauty would save you.

They reached the president’s office.

Li Ruobing had assumed an assistant would follow Tao Manying in. None did. Tao Manying came in alone.

Negotiating an endorsement fee meant negotiating money, and doing that solo could easily go wrong—especially for a celebrity. Half the reason stars kept agents around was that certain things were better left unsaid by the star herself, to avoid causing offense.

Yet here Tao Manying was, no agent in sight, for reasons Li Ruobing couldn’t guess.

“Miss Tao, please, sit.”

Li Ruobing had her sit, then had her secretary bring in coffee.

Once the secretary withdrew, only the two of them remained.

Li Ruobing settled back behind her desk, smiled and gestured for Tao Manying to wait a moment, then took out her phone and dialed.

Wu Chen.

He picked up almost instantly.

“Darling, Miss Tao’s arrived. Just letting you know.” The words came out with all the warmth of a woman freshly in love—but Wu Chen, who knew better, could hear the accusation folded inside the performance.

“Oh,” Wu Chen said, flat, unbothered.