Archive of Our Own

"You want us to do what?!"

Huang Shaotian's incredulous tone caused the other players to look up immediately. 

"Ah yes... " the official wrung his hands nervously "I know this is at the last minute but the US Team have a spot of food poisoning and won't be able to do it anymore. And the other teams are already busy with their own items. We hoped that Team China would be able to take over!"

Huang Shaotian was at a loss for words. But Su Mucheng wasn't and she immediately responded. 

"Ok! We will help! Don't worry!"

"Ah! Thank you!" The official smiled at her gratefully. 

"What exactly do we have to do?" asked Chu Yunxiu coming up to them. 

"It's all a part of the Christmas programme. The US Team were in charge of the nativity play and the Santa Claus act, so now you will need to do those."

Huang Shaotian let out a choke and the frightened official inched away from him. 

"It's just an informal event! For the teams and the staff! There's nothing to worry about! We will give you the scripts! You don't need to worry about costumes and stuff! We can provide one for the Santa! Please! We would be really grateful for your help!!"

Su Mucheng wondered if she had put her foot in it by agreeing so quickly. But the official looked so distressed and the pleading in his eyes was so real that she nodded reluctantly. 

"Can't we do any simpler item?" she asked but the official shook his head vigorously. 

"This is the centrepiece! And it will be difficult for the others to switch their items! I believe Team China had no other commitments for the programme except the refreshments, so please don't say no!!!"

Su Mucheng smiled nervously. It was true they had only volunteered for the refreshments. And the plan was for just one or two of them to take rotations at watching the refreshments counter. 

It was a master move planned by their team of tacticians to end up with the least amount of work and she hadn't expected it to be discovered so quickly. 

Su Mucheng didn't mind helping out but it wasn't just her help he had asked. It was Team China. And right now she could feel the horrified aura radiating from the rest of the team. 

"And you tell this two days before?!" Shaotian didn't hide his annoyance this time. 

"I'm sorry! We don't want to cancel the event! It's just a low-stress affair! Christmas is supposed to be all about having fun and being with friends and family! We know everyone misses their home and we just wanted to get together to spread some cheer that's all!"

Su Mucheng and Chu Yunxiu looked at each other. How could they say no to such honest and pure intentions?

The tight competition of the World Championship had kept them on edge until now, so a Christmas programme was certainly a good way to lighten the mood before focussing on the playoffs. 

"We will do it" 

*****

"Ok! Who will be Santa Claus?" asked Su Mucheng. 

"It's got to be Ye Xiu, right? He's old!" Huang Shaotian felt no shame about saying this to his face. 

"Hah! No way!" Ye Xiu shook his head firmly "It needs somebody noisy like Shaotian!"

"Nope!" said Fang Rui "We actually need somebody fat! Like Sun Xiang!"

"I'm not fat!!!" shouted an outraged Sun Xiang.

"Come on guys!" Chu Yunxiu sighed.

She hadn't expected much from these idiots really but if they were to go on stage in front of all the other 15 teams they needed to put in some effort. 

"Maybe Zhang Jiale could." suggested Li Xuan. 

"What the hell, Li Xuan? What did I do to you?!" 

Zhang Jiale and Li Xuan started squabbling while the others tried to make themselves as invisible as possible. Nobody wanted to be pulled up for this absurd task. 

"I know! Let's pick lots!" said Su Mucheng. 

There were many wails of protest but finally Zhang Xinjie spoke up. 

"It's the most logical plan. Make the chits, Su Mucheng."

"How is it logical?! What if you get picked?!" shouted Huang Shaotian. 

"The probability of it being me is one in fourteen. It is all down to luck."

Only Zhang Xinjie could maintain his cool facing such a question. 

"What if it's..... Zhou Zekai?!" Fang Rui pointed at their silent member and Zhou Zekai stared back unhappily. He didn't need Fang Rui to explicitly state the worst case scenario. 

"Then you can dub for him!" said Ye Xiu with a laugh and starting another debate on how Fang Rui's voice would never suit Zhou Zekai. 

"Okay guys! Stop being so noisy!" 

Chu Yunxiu and Su Mucheng had finished the chits and they dropped them on the table. 

"One has Santa written on it! The rest are blank. Whoever gets the Santa chit must do it! No swapping or backing down or excuses!"

Su Mucheng stressed the words very clearly so that the cunning lot would not find any loopholes. 

"Have you girls put your names too?" asked Yu Wenzhou. 

"Yeah! But hopefully it would be one of you guys!" Su Mucheng smiled mischievously. 

"What do you mean hopefully?" Wang Jiexi didn't like the whole drawing lots idea. 

He never participated in these activities back at Tiny Herb. He would die of embarrassment if he had to do so before an international audience. 

"We will go first!" Su Mucheng and Chu Yunxiu picked lots quickly and ended up with empty chits. 

The others shook their heads in disappointment. 

Zhang Xinjie was next and he smiled smugly seeing the blank paper. He had tried to act unfazed before but he had been praying with all his heart that he wouldn't pick it. 

Slowly the others picked their chits and started unfurling them, sneaking suspicious glances at the others. 

"Oh no!"

The loud wail of dismay signalled the end of the ceremony. 

Tang Hao didn't even completely open his chit. He saw the half of a smiley face and just knew that it was the evil note. 

"Hahaha!!! It's Tang Hao!!!" Huang Shaotian laughed in relief and grabbed the chit from Tang Hao. 

As predicted it had Santa written on it along with a cheeky smiley. 

Tang Hao tried his best to push it onto someone else. But the power of thirteen people, most of them his seniors, was too strong and he couldn't do anything. 

"It will be fine! It's probably the easiest job!" comforted Xiao Shiqin. It was easy to say this when he wasn't the chosen one. 

"All you have to do is say 'Ho Ho Ho Merry Christmas' and throw candies at the audience!" Li Xuan added quite energetically. 

Tang Hao whimpered unhappily and looked at Su Mucheng. There was no reason for her to make any special allowance but there was no way he could do something like this. 

"Don't worry, Tang Hao! Look on the bright side! You won't have to be in the play!"

Su Mucheng's words offered little consolation and Tang Hao looked away glumly. This was karma. There was no point fighting it. 

*****

"Everyone gather around quick! We've got the script here! We need to assign characters and start learning our parts fast!"

The team crowded around her as Su Mucheng handed out copies. 

"Tch! We only have today now, right?! How on earth can we learn this by tomorrow?!" Huang Shaotian waved the script in Su Mucheng's face and she responded calmly. 

"They just gave it to me today. We can improvise. They said it's just the base script and we need not worry about keeping the dialogues perfect. There aren't many in the first place! We just need to practice a bit today!"

Su Mucheng looked through the characters : Joseph, Mary, The Innkeeper, Three shepherds, Two Angels, The Three Wise Men, The Star and a Narrator. Tang Hao was already Santa Claus so there were exactly thirteen parts left for the rest of them. 

"Are we going to pick chits for this too?" asked Wang Jiexi. 

"Um... no. Best we discuss the roles and assign it."

Su Mucheng didn't want to risk chits this time. It would be a nightmare if say one of the guys pulled Mary or worse.... if Zhou Zekai got the Narrator. 

The whole afternoon and evening Team China was holed up in the practice room, not playing Glory but going over the Nativity play. 

Su Mucheng didn't really have much hope for them at the end of the day but she convinced herself it was the effort that mattered. 

That night she sincerely prayed that the idiots didn't embarrass themselves too badly on stage the next day. 

*****

The room was packed with people and on seeing the crowd, Sun Xiang felt a bead of sweat roll down his forehead. 

"What are you getting so nervous about?! You have one word!!!" Huang Shaotian twirled a shepherd's stick in his hand and smacked Sun Xiang's behind with it. 

"Oh shut up!!"

Sun Xiang scowled at Huang Shaotian. He was going to enjoy screaming at him on stage. 

"Tang Hao! Stop moping and go start getting dressed! You guys get ready! We don't want to miss our cue! Li Xuan!!! Why are you in black!!! You are an Angel!!!"

Su Mucheng was definitely on edge and even Huang Shaotian moved away wisely to avoid getting shouted at. 

"Um.... I'm a fallen angel." said Li Xuan weakly earning a well-deserved glare. 

"It's ok! We can get him a white coat or something!" said Chu Yunxiu smoothly and patted Su Mucheng's shoulder. 

She could understand her mood. 

The other teams had surprisingly put up some amazing performances. Except for Team US who had withdrawn from the programme and were now seated in the general audience, every other pro team had brought something interesting. 

It didn't help that the staff kept referring to the Nativity play as the centrepiece. 

Chu Yunxiu clicked her tongue in annoyance as her top was unfortunately rather tight around the arms. It was the only decent white one but there was no time to fix it and she had a bad feeling if she made any awkward moves the top would tear. 

"I don't know if I can hold up the star too high.... " she muttered. 

"Don't worry." said Su Mucheng "I will be happy if we even make it to the end really." 

Su Mucheng then laughed out loudly. 

"Okay! Let's just have fun!"

The German Glory Team had just finished their performance and the stage dimmed to cue the start of the Nativity play. 

"Okay! I'm gonna start!" said Zhang Jiale as he grabbed the microphone and took his place at the edge of the stage. He had got the rather easy job of Narrator and MC for their items. 

He took a quick look around, making sure that everyone was ready at their assigned places. Tang Hao had already left to get dressed and the remaining members were positioned at different places as per their role. 

It was time to begin. 

Zhang Jiale started reading the introduction as Huang Shaotian playing Joseph and Su Mucheng playing Mary entered the stage. 

As the official had informed them before, it really was an informal play and they had no elaborate costumes or props. They had provided a few head-worn mics for the speaking actors and some simple props. 

So the only thing to suggest they were Joseph and Mary was the shepherd's stick that Huang Shaotian was brandishing and Zhang Jiale's narrative. 

As Zhang Jiale got to the part where the two reached the inn, Sun Xiang rushed onto the stage and got into position. 

So far so good. 

"Do you have room, innkeeper?" asked Huang Shaotian. 

Sun Xiang was still dazed by the lights and now that he was on stage he could see the audience was a lot bigger than he had imagined. 

"Do you have room, innkeeper?" Huang Shaotian repeated.

He had to focus very hard to not call Sun Xiang by name and it didn't help that the idiot was having trouble with his single word. 

"Um.. Yes." said Sun Xiang. 

There was a pause as the audience started tittering with laughter. 

"You mean no right?" Huang Shaotian tried to plaster on a benevolent smile. Su Mucheng wasn't making it any easier as she started giggling. 

"Yes! I mean no!! I mean-" Sun Xiang could sense the dark aura from Huang Shaotian now . 

"Yes we have room!! But I don't have any for you! So go to the manger!!!" Sun Xiang yelled out the words and ran off stage. 

Zhang Jiale quickly started the narrative as the audience started to laugh and whistle. Sun Xiang had certainly made a wonderful first impression. 

Huang Shaotian bottled up his irritation and thinking of happy thoughts he and Su Mucheng moved to the centre. A chair had already been placed there in advance and Su Mucheng sat down. 

Zhang Jiale continued the long narration which would soon lead to the part of the birth of Jesus Christ. 

"Oh" whispered Su Mucheng suddenly. 

"What?" said Huang Shaotian before remembering the audience could hear him too. 

Zhang Jiale purposefully increased his volume and Huang Shaotian got the hint. 

He looked down at Su Mucheng and immediately understood the problem.

They had been given a doll as a prop to represent baby Jesus. Su Mucheng had forgotten to bring the doll on stage and had left it on the side.

She tilted her head slightly and saw the doll on a table. She motioned with her eyes and Huang Shaotian could see it too. But they were too far away to reach it.

Luckily, Sun Xiang was leaning on that very table chugging down a bottle of water and Huang Shaotian signalled him. 

It was quite fortunate that Sun Xiang understood the problem quickly and he grabbed the doll. 

But nothing prepared Huang Shaotian for what was going to happen next. 

As Zhang Jiale reached the line that announced the all-important moment, the doll was hurled onto the main stage from the side. With a yell, Huang Shaotian performed a very impress dive and caught it before it crashed to the ground. 

Amidst the hoots of laughter, Huang Shaotian walked back to Su Mucheng and dropped the doll into her hands in a dignified manner before casting a murderous glare at Sun Xiang. 

Poor Sun Xiang melted back into the shadows.

Today was just not his day. It was his good luck that Huang Shaotian had to be on stage throughout. 

Sun Xiang had nothing more to do here and he decided to visit Tang Hao and see how he was doing. 

*****

Tang Hao had been alloted a tiny little store room where he had changed into his costume.

He had aggressively refused to have more than one layer of padding and Su Mucheng had finally relented, much to the disappointment of the other guys who had been hoping to get some nice pictures. 

"No mask?" asked Sun Xiang sitting on a box.

The rest of the costume was pretty good. The red jacket and pant and the cap. There was a small sack too which held the candies Tang Hao was supposed to throw to the audience. 

"No... I was counting on that to hide my face" said Tang Hao. 

Sun Xiang nodded sympathetically. 

"How's it going up there?" asked Tang Hao. 

"Very well!" Sun Xiang quickly changed the subject "Maybe they've got a mask in here! We should check these boxes! It could have been misplaced!" 

Tang Hao agreed and the two began to search for the elusive mask. 

*****

Huang Shaotian was feeling fidgety.

The narrative felt way too long for him, but in a way Zhang Jiale was the saving grace who was bringing some form of authenticity to their play. 

Things had gone smoothly after the initial bumps. The three shepherds: Zhang Xinjie, Fang Rui and Zhou Zekai were placid compared to Sun Xiang. 

Zhou Zekai had taken his position perfectly. There had been some confusion when Fang Rui tried to take Zhang Xinjie's position and he was pushed away rather strongly. Huang Shaotian had then used his stick to point Fang Rui to the correct spot, preventing further drama. 

The angels, Xiao Shiqin and Li Xuan came on stage after that and got a few laughs. 

Xiao Shiqin was alright and was wearing faded blue jeans and a blue shirt but Li Xuan was worthy of attention. 

As promised, Chu Yunxiu had managed to get him a white jacket. But it was rather small and Li Xuan couldn't button it up or anything and it hung loose around his shoulders exposing the rest of his black clothes. 

Chu Yunxiu had been in rather a hurry and had just picked a random jacket from the costume boxes. So even she was shocked as the jacket started twinkling brightly when Li Xuan got on stage. 

It was studded with gems of some kind and they started sparkling under the stage lights.

Li Xuan shone like a pop star as he stood among the shepherds. Xiao Shiqin looked like a rather poor angel in comparison. 

Su Mucheng burst into another fit of giggles and Fang Rui started snorting too. Huang Shaotian hummed a tune under his breath to calm himself down. 

Two more scenes and it would be over. 

"There they come now, the Three Kings!" Zhang Jiale raised his voice dramatically and the audience turned their gaze to the trio walking towards the stage. 

Ye Xiu, Yu Wenzhou and Wang Jiexi

They had been given robes of some sort and three little boxes. The robes were rather short though and didn't really give the impression that they were kings. 

As far as appearances were concerned, they looked like three regular guys walking down the street to a McDonald's. 

But obviously because of the fame they carried in the Glory Circle they radiated kingly vibes and the audience seemed rather excited by this. 

The three got on stage, with Ye Xiu leading them and they approached the centre. 

Ye Xiu looked at the audience. He hadn't wanted any lines but the others had been so terribly insistent that he had finally agreed. 

"We come bearing gifts!" he said. 

Huang Shaotian gave a thin smile and continued drumming his fingers on the shepherd's stick absent-mindedly. 

The way Ye Xiu had said that made it feel like he was bringing explosives and not gifts. 

"What have you brought, Wise Ones?" asked Huang Shaotian and waited for Ye Xiu to say the next line. 

Ye Xiu paused for a second and then continued in his best imperial voice. 

"We have brought rare gifts!"

Huang Shaotian's eyes narrowed. Had this guy forgotten his lines too?!! 

"Ok. But what exactly have you brought?"

Ye Xiu smiled nervously.

He remembered the gold but he had forgotten what the other two things were again. 

"Um... Rare drops!!" he said brightly. 

He was a second too late in realising he had said 'drops' instead of 'gifts'. 

Finally Huang Shaotian lost his cool. 

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN RARE DROPS?!! ARE YOU A WILD BOSS?!! SAY THE NAMES ALREADY!! WHAT KINDA WISE KING ARE YOU?!!"

The audience started roaring with laughter and Zhang Xinjie, who was closest to Ye Xiu tried to control the situation by whispering the line. 

"Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh"

The audience started laughing again because they could hear this. Zhang Xinjie had accidentally spoken close to Ye Xiu's mic 

"Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh!!!" shouted out Ye Xiu shamelessly but Huang Shaotian wasn't going to accept it without having the last word. 

"Pft!!! Some king you are!! Even the shepherds know what it is!!"

Su Mucheng burst into giggles again and Zhang Xinjie turned around, waving frantically at Zhang Jiale to start speaking. 

It truly was a miracle that Huang Shaotian had stayed quiet so far. 

Zhang Jiale started reading again of how the kings offered their gifts. 

Ye Xiu promptly ran up to Huang Shaotian and handed over his box. The narrative moved to the next king but Ye Xiu stood there without moving. 

He found that the place where he was supposed to stand was occupied by Li Xuan, who had tried to hide in as dark a place as possible.... which unfortunately happened to be Ye Xiu's spot. 

"What are you waiting for? Let the others give their gifts!"

Huang Shaotian was a rather rude Joseph and he scowled at Ye Xiu. 

"Ok!"

Ye Xiu walked over to Li Xuan and pushed him away to reclaim his place. 

Li Xuan shone like a diamond as he stumbled around the stage trying to find a new dark place while Wang Jiexi and Yu Wenzhou threw their gifts at Huang Shaotian quickly, as Zhang Jiale had not stopped talking and they had already missed their cue. 

The stage was a mess and everyone failed miserably in suppressing their laughter.

Huang Shaotian almost wished Sun Xiang was on stage so that he could give him a piece of his mind too. He had lost all hope of leaving the stage honourably.

So what could not be salvaged must be destroyed even further and Su Mucheng didn't seem to care anymore either and was looking rather amused by how everything had turned out.

Huang Shaotian had no qualms if the rest of the Glory World was going to think that the Chinese Glory Team were a group of incompetent crack-heads when it came to real life.

Zhang Jiale droned on and on with the description.

Xiao Shiqin let out a loud yawn which was captured perfectly by someone else's mic. He tried to ignore it but Fang Rui took the opportunity immediately.

"Zhang Jiale! Hurry up already! Even the angels are getting bored!"

Zhang Jiale looked at the stage and sighed. They had all gone mad.

They had thrown caution to winds and were happily tearing down their carefully built image of a powerhouse team.

Zhang Jiale was surprised the script was so long too. He squinted at the page and suddenly noticed that many paragraphs had a cross next to them.

"Oh.... "

Zhang Jiale decided not to tell the others about this.

It wasn't his fault that he had been so caught up in the reading that he had read the excluded parts too.

Zhang Jiale riffed to the end and announced the arrival of the Star.

Chu Yunxiu hadn't expected this sudden jump to the end. She quickly grabbed the huge silver star prop and went on stage.

Initially she wasn't too excited about playing this part, but it was a rather important one.

In the end, she had to hold the star up above all of the others and her presence was supposed to feel magical according to the script.

There was no way people would feel any magic after all that happened. Also she stood no chance against Li Xuan who was shining like a disco light.

It was only when she had reached the centre that Chu Yunxiu realised there was a small problem.

According to the script she was to hold the star above everyone. But the only chair on stage was the one Su Mucheng was sitting on.

She couldn't raise her arms too much either. The mics seemed suspiciously sensitive and she didn't want to risk it capturing the sound of her top ripping.

The others were all staring at her now, almost pleading for her to end the disaster. Chu Yunxiu wanted to end it too but she had really hoped to get atleast one thing right in the whole play.

Chu Yunxiu looked at Su Mucheng and was surprised to see her smiling. She had thought Su Mucheng would be upset by how everything had gone wrong but she looked incredibly happy.

Chu Yunxiu smiled. The point of this whole activity was to spread cheer and have a good time.

If you can't beat them, join them

She walked up to Huang Shaotian and tapped his arm.

"Shao- Joseph! Would you please hold this up?"

Without hesitating Huang Shaotian took the star and held it up over his head. Everyone started laughing again.

Huang Shaotian didn't look like he was holding up the star spreading hope. He seemed more like the leader of a protest group holding up a placard demanding his rights.

Music started playing and the audience applauded and cheered loudly.

As the French Team came on stage, humming carols, the Chinese Team beat a hasty retreat.

Backstage, everyone burst into conversation and laughter and started accusing each other of having messed up.

"The only guy who did his part right was Zhou Zekai!!" shouted Huang Shaotian putting his arm around his shoulder "And he's way too handsome to be a shepherd!!"

Zhou Zekai sighed. He was just glad the whole thing was over. This wasn't his cup of tea. He had enjoyed all the ridiculous things that had happened though and smiled happily.

"We should have made him one of the angels." said Zhang Jiale.

"No! We have our fallen angel right?" said Xiao Shiqin with a sly look at Li Xuan.

Li Xuan accepted their roasting. It was his own fault for having made that reference before.

"And Su Mucheng! Really?!  Didn't you have lines somewhere?!! All you did was giggle!!!" Fang Rui poked at Su Mucheng and she laughed.

"I know! It's just- you guys were so funny! And Shaotian was doing such a good job!! And I forgot everything!"

"And where's the King who offered me his drops?!" Huang Shaotian dragged out Ye Xiu who took the ribbing that followed good-naturedly.

"It wasn't my fault! Wang Jiexi and I were discussing something about materials while we waited! It's his fault!"

"No wonder you are so quiet, Wang Jiexi! Why did you confuse poor Ye Xiu?!"

"We sure messed up the whole thing huh?" remarked Fang Rui "Sorry Mucheng!"

Everyone apologised rather sheepishly but Su Mucheng brushed it off.

"No way! It was fun! The audience didn't boo us off the stage anyway! So it's all good!"

"Hey guys!" Chu Yunxiu came running over followed by Zhang Xinjie.

The two had gone to meet the official who had assigned them with the task the other day and to offer their apologies for having messed up the main part of the programme.

"Was he upset?" asked Su Mucheng.

"No! Just the opposite! He was extremely happy! And there's more!"

Chu Yunxiu took a deep breath to make sure she had everyone's attention before continuing.

"Apparently the US Team had plans of making a different version of the play. A modern or funny take. Then they got sick and it passed on to us."

Chu Yunxiu stopped and Zhang Xinjie took over.

"The official thought that we would not be comfortable with such an altered version nor would we be able to manage in such a short time. That's why we got the original simple script."

"Did you guys tell him we hadn't planned any of that? " asked Huang Shaotian.

"Yes! And you know the funny thing?!" Chu Yunxiu controlled her laughter and continued "Apparently the reason why they didn't give us the modified script is because they thought we wouldn't be able to pull off a comedy act!"

"Wonder what gave them that idea... " said Fang Rui, causing more laughter.

Wang Jiexi and Yu Wenzhou looked at each other. They had a feeling they knew why.

Their team could give off a very serious and dignified vibe at times. It wasn't that they didn't have fun, but it mostly happened within the team and so the other teams and the staff probably felt they were all rigid gamers who focussed on nothing else.

Mostly they were too lazy to take part in other activities but it was nice to hear that they had shattered some assumptions today.

"We should go back to the audience now." Yu Wenzhou interrupted the adrenaline filled banter "Let's just enjoy the rest of the programme!"

"Tang Hao" said Zhou Zekai suddenly.

"Oh! Right! Shaotian! Just check on him, ok! I think Sun Xiang might be with him."

"Sun Xiang! I wanted to talk to him!" Huang Shaotian smiled wickedly "I'll join you guys after I see them!"

*****

"I'm coming in!" shouted Huang Shaotian and he swung the door open.

There was a loud screech and the next second Tang Hao fell from above and crashed to the ground. A huge cardboard box immediately followed and landed over him.

"Tang Hao!!" shouted Sun Xiang running up to Tang Hao.

Huang Shaotian was rather stunned by what had just happened but he quickly recovered and helped Tang Hao sit up.

"What the hell?!  Are you alright?!! Can you hear me?!! Are you alive?!"

"Yes!!! Shut up!!!"

Tang Hao groaned. In search of a mask he had decided to climb up a chair and check the boxes arranged above. When Huang Shaotian had opened the door his chair had been knocked back, bringing Tang Hao down.

It wasn't very high though and he wasn't really hurt by the fall. The one layer of padding he had accepted had actually helped to soften the fall. But the box that had followed had fallen on his face and he could feel a bruise forming near his left cheekbone.

"I'm going to get an ugly bruise right..... " said Tang Hao standing up.

The other two nodded solemnly. There was no serious injury but it looked like Tang Hao had been punched right in the face.

"Um... Sorry" murmured Huang Shaotian.

"Ah! No problem!" said Tang Hao.

"We should get that looked at right?" asked Sun Xiang slightly worried.

"Nah! I have been punched before! I know how much it can hurt! This is just a small bruise!"

Tang Hao was actually speaking the truth but these two guys didn't stop fussing and Sun Xiang ran off to fetch Su Mucheng.

A few minutes later Tang Hao's bruise was tended to by Su Mucheng who agreed that it didn't seen too bad. The bruise looked quite nasty but it wasn't dangerously close to his eye and would fade away soon.

"Ugh... I've got to go on stage like this?!" Tang Hao looked at his face using his phone's front camera and felt annoyed.

"We can say Santa got attacked by airport security" said Huang Shaotian, now back to his usual self on seeing that Tang Hao was alright.

"Su Mucheng, can't someone else do it? I mean, I feel fine! But I doubt people want to see a Santa Claus who looks like he was beaten up in an alleyway! "

"Nope it has to be you! We've all done out bit! You should get out there too!" said Su Mucheng immediately.

"I doubt people would see it from so far away!" said Huang Shaotian "Don't you have a mask?"

"That's the whole problem. No mask." explained Sun Xiang.

"Hmmm..... "

Su Mucheng walked over to one of the boxes and peeped into it. After thinking for a moment she snapped her fingers.

"We've just got to cover up the bruise right? I think I've got an idea! "

*****

Zhang Jiale grabbed the mic from the MC of Team Switzerland. It was finally time for Santa Claus to appear and Zhang Jiale waited for his cue.

'Jingle Bells' started playing and Zhang Jiale started the introduction.

"Alright! Now here comes Santa Cl-"

Zhang Jiale choked on the last word.

Tang Hao had appeared on stage.

From toe to neck he was Santa Clause alright, but across his left eye and covering most of that side, he had a black eye-patch.

In the wings, Zhang Jiale could see Huang Shaotian, Su Mucheng and Sun Xiang waving at him and urging him to continue.

Zhang Jiale smiled. Nothing could surprise him today.

"It's Santa Claus!" he shouted quickly as the music started playing louder.

Tang Hao sighed. Su Mucheng had pulled out some black cloth from a box back there and made a large eye-patch to cover the bruise. But sadly he looked like a thug now.

Can't be helped.... Let's get this over with

"Ho! Ho! Ho!" he shouted and from the back came Fang Rui's unmistakably loud voice:

"And a bottle of rum!!!"

Tang Hao felt quite relaxed even as the entire room rocked with laughter at this comment.

Huang Shaotian was a true master indeed and had warned him of the pun. Only Fang Rui, an equally dirty master had picked up on it.

Tang Hao smiled. The show must go on and he had to do his bit.

"And a bottle of rum!" he shouted and tossed the candies to the crowd as they cheered and wished him a merry christmas.

Each team received rounds of applause as they crowded on stage at the end.

The China Glory Team were pleasantly surprised when they were welcomed with incredibly loud whistles and cheers.

The staff made a special mention of their team for having been such good sports and taken up the challenge at the last minute which earned another round of applause.

A strange little article about the event appeared in a few magazines the next day.

It mentioned that the exclusive Christmas programme for the Glory Championship Teams and their staff was a big succes.

The US Glory Team had commended the Chinese Glory Team on their excellent rendition of the Nativity plan and innovative Santa Claus act. An invitation was also extended for another performance in front of a bigger audience at the next Championship.

The captain of Team China had thanked them for their kind words and had politely refused the offer on the grounds they did not wish to traumatise more people with this so called innovation.

The article made little sense to most readers except for a select few back in China who simply wondered if this was just another psychological tactic by their shameless pros to bring home the Championship.