Beep, beep, beep, Tao's alarm clock's shrill beeping woke him up. Stumbling to the bathroom in his small room above the restaurant, Tao rubbed his eyes. The restaurant would be filling up with customers wanting breakfast soon, he must get ready quickly. Rushing to put on his simple waiter outfit, a white dress shirt, black pants, and a black apron, he ran down the stairs, two at a time, only to be met with commotion. This wasn't any usual morning chatter either, it was a big crowd gathered in front of the restaurant's advertising bulletin. There rarely was anything interesting on it though. The restaurant, being so far out, where the usual customers were farmers, travelers, or merchants, did not usually contain big ads. Just some about selling little trinkets, the like.

However, curious as he was, Tao pushed through the crowd and came face to face with a vibrantly colored poster announcing with big words, FIRST CITY FAIR. The events were listed in smaller words below, stuff like food contests and games. There was also a section highlighting the sponsors. Of course, the typical companies were there, Zhang's, Wu's World Trading Co., Calende Airlines. This fair was just another rich man's play. Tao was about to walk back with a disheartened shrug when the last few words on the poster caught his eye, Entertainers of art requested and will be paid grandly.

Tao heard muttering behind him, the whispering of excited people. He heard his name mentioned more than once. His heart quickened. Perhaps, Boss will allow him to go and demonstrate his wushu. After all these years of training, almost eleven now, he felt ready to showcase his talent. Why, all the neighbors and people who occasionally entered the restaurant knew him. Some even admitted they came just to glimpse at Tao during his training sessions outside (a window showed the customers view of the outside where Tao trained, see).

"TAO, MY BOY!" a booming voice vibrated in the restaurant, belonging to the mighty Tao's teacher himself, Boss, "WHY ARE YOU GATHERED AMONG OUR CUSTOMERS INSTEAD OF SERVING THEM? COME ON NOW, BOY."

Tao gulped. Fat chance. Boss would never let him leave the restaurant to participate in some fair like this. Boss always declared how nice it was to have Tao keep the restaurant under control, not how nice it was to have Tao show others his talent. What was Tao thinking, it had been such a foolish hope.

The crowd dispersed after a while, and Tao resumed his activities, taking orders and carrying plates back and forth between the tables. He rested at lunch break, then continued his work. When the usual ten o'clock bell rung to signal to the customers and workers that it was closing time, Tao left with the rest of the waiters to wash their hands and get ready to leave.

Just then, a hand grabbed Tao's shoulder. Unconsciously, Tao grabbed the hand and twisted it behind the person's back, only to realize that it was just Boss.

"HAHAHAHA," roared Boss, "YOUR SKILLS HAVE BECOME QUITE GOOD INDEED. YOU CAN EVEN TWIST MY ARM NOW. HAHAHAHA."

"I-I'm sorry, Boss! I was caught by surprise, and I-I..I'm sorry, sir!" Tao was stuttering, Boss was not someone you toyed with. Tao had learned this many times, for as a little boy, he had liked to prank Boss but was always severely scolded afterwards. He always respected Boss though, since he was the one who had taken Tao in after he was found wandering the streets alone. Therefore, Tao was scared that he had dared to lay a hand on Boss.

"DON'T MAKE A BIG DEAL ABOUT IT, WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU. YOU BETTER MAN UP IF YOU WANT TO PARTICIPATE IN THAT FESTIVAL," Boss had a grin stretched wide.

Stunned, Tao blinked multiple times. He felt tears coming to his eyes, how easily he cried! Boss was, he was, ..

Boss patted him, "Tao. Listen to me. You've got to prove yourself out there. You got to make a name for yourself and succeed in this world. Surpass me. Do you understand?"

With a slight nod, Tao turns to go back to his room before running up to Boss again and giving him a thankful hug, "Thank you so much, sir!"

And thus began Tao's preparation for his debut performance of wushu.

--

"What?" Kris muttered, as he stared at this blinding poster taped onto the wall in front of his bedroom door.

"Son, you saw it?" Kris's dad walked up beside him with a grin.

"Why would you sponsor something like this? It's just a little fair," Kris clenched his teeth. His father never used his money for anything except Kris's studies and his own business matters. But this..fair?

"It's a good advertisement! We're the biggest contributor," his dad replied, an air of superiority about him. Though, being the richest family in the city, it would be a surprise if they weren't putting in the most money. "Of course," his dad continued, "You're expected to come to this event."

Kris breathed, ever since he was little, it was drilled into him that he would eventually become the heir of his father's trading company. He attended all the events that were sponsored, and now that he was older, he was occasionally made to help out with matters at the company itself. This attendance of the fair was to be expected. However, Kris didn't want to go to some fair. Some red carpets, openings, were all okay. But to mingle in with the common people out there. To meet others. To make full use of Kris's social skills. To maybe have fun. It was all too much. But of course, he must.

"Okay, father. You can expect me to attend this with my best behavior," Kris sighed.

"Good," Mr. Wu paused, "I also want you to oversee an event, be a leader for it. This will be a bit new, but I want you to go to the fair that day and make sure this station is operating correctly. I'm hiring some entertainers, I feel like it will be a good experience for you and allow you to meet with foreigners you usually wouldn't meet."

"Of course, father," Kris submitted. After all what else can he do? At least it'll just be some directing of how to set up the station or something of that sort. Nothing to big, just like how Kris liked, he supposed. He'll make sure everything stayed in control.

His outfit would be tailored soon, would be ready in the two months. The fair will be then, and there, Kris was to make his first appearance as a leader of his father's company. He had to crawl out of his shy shell soon.

Ahh sorry I didn't upload a chapter yesterday! I was planning to, but I had a party, so I only wrote part of this chapter before I had to prepare. And today, my head's a bit dead from my lack of sleep [this is mostly from watching dramas at night though haha]. So yup, here's chapter 2! Thanks for all the support, I really appreciate all this because it makes me want to write more~ I hope to not disappoint, and will be back with another chapter soon! To be honest, this chapter should be a bit shorter than later chapters as well, since this was just setting the stage for the fair where where where !! ;D See you in the next chapter, lovelies<3