He changed Tiwat

Moreover, he even astutely noticed something—this competition format probably contains a small trap.

Han Fulai wondered if he was the only one who had noticed it... After all, this competition had been held for many years, and perhaps other contestants knew about this hidden rule.

Of course, as a qualified event host, Wendy needs to explain the rules clearly.

So after announcing the start of the timer, Wendy pointed to the hourglass that had begun to flow and reminded everyone again: "Please note that you can submit your answers early in this competition. If someone submits their answer early, the contestant's recitation and the judges' comments will be conducted simultaneously."

Han Fulai nodded to himself, thinking to himself that he had just realized it.

As someone who submitted his paper early in the Liyue Civil Service Exam, he immediately realized that psychological tactics were involved in the competition.

Imagine a contestant finishes writing their piece in five minutes, then recites their poem to the judges for five minutes and listens to their comments for five minutes. Meanwhile, the other contestants have to spend the next ten minutes listening to the judges' endless chatter.

This not only puts pressure on other players, but also serves as an effective form of interference.

Furthermore, in the case of poetry, if someone else writes a similar poem and recites it first, the later writer is easily accused of imitating the former, even if the two of them actually came up with the similar poem independently.

In other words, in a competition between two teams, the first team to start has a significant advantage over the second team to start.

After Wendy explained the rules, staff members came forward to distribute writing boards and paper to the participants. As the saying goes, a bad pen is worse than a good memory, and the organizers thoughtfully provided the necessary tools to help participants capture fleeting inspiration.

Most of the contestants on site began to frown and think, including those sitting in the audience who hadn't yet had their turn to participate.

For these contestants who are about to compete, this is not only a "warm-up" to get used to the competition atmosphere, but the poems they come up with can also be put into practice in their own competition.

The topic of "love poems" is both simple and difficult.

It's simple and natural because bards throughout Mondstadt's history have already created countless love poems, so you can just pick a few to imitate, which saves a lot of time; but that's also where the difficulty lies, because with the masterpieces of predecessors, if you simply imitate them, they will easily be compared with the excellent works of the past, and you won't get a high score.

However, composing a love poem on the spot in fifteen minutes requires both originality and sincerity to move the judges, which significantly increases the difficulty.

Therefore, even a professional poet like "Six-Fingered Joseph" had to think about it carefully.

In order to keep the atmosphere from cooling down, the host Wendy naturally prepared some warm-up lines.

"Love is hailed as the most beautiful emotion in the world, and poetry is the vehicle for people's inner feelings. Since ancient times, countless love poems have been passed down in Mondstadt. From folk songs such as 'Dandelion Pastoral' to narrative poems such as 'I Hate You, the Liar of Marriage', they have all been widely recited and are diverse in style."

If you ask me how to write a love poem, I will answer: 'Ask your heart.'

"Who do you love? And how do you love her? How do you want to express your love? Silent love, passionate love? Taking the initiative, or waiting quietly? Love, like poetry, is ever-changing and has no fixed form. So I can only give you one piece of advice—the form is not important; what matters is your heart."

Although Wendy is now just a bard, his words are the teachings of the god of poetry.

Many contestants in the audience seemed to be deep in thought after hearing his words.

Wendy's words actually reveal the essence of poetry: poetry is about the heart. Words and phrases are ultimately secondary; the most important thing is the intention. If the intention is genuine, even without embellishment, the words and phrases will naturally be good. This is called "not letting words obscure the meaning."

Of course, some impatient people weren't satisfied with Wendy's words and wanted to find some shortcuts or tricks. Immediately, someone shouted from the audience: "Host, what you're saying is all empty talk. Don't you have any real secrets?"

Wendy's eyes darted around a few times before she chuckled, "Want the secret to writing beautiful love poems? Of course there is! It just depends on whether anyone's willing to pay the tuition. A bottle of fine dandelion wine in exchange for the secret. Anyone interested?"

A small commotion immediately arose at the scene, as a famous bard from Mondstadt was giving a live lesson!

One of the contestants immediately clapped a few times, and his butler quickly handed Wendy three full bottles of the renowned dandelion wine from the Dawn Winery.

This contestant is Marvin, the heir to the Goethe family.

He came to the competition for no other reason than to recite to all of Mondstadt the love poem he wrote for his beloved Mara—a poem he had revised again and again, never quite set in stone.

Wendy is a renowned poet, after all. Marvin certainly wouldn't be stingy with a few bottles of good wine for asking him for advice. He had originally planned to give this wine to "Six-Fingered Joseph" as a gift, but now it's all going to Wendy.

Wendy accepted the bottles of wine without hesitation, and said leisurely, "Three bottles of wine for three secrets to love poems. Listen carefully—"

This immediately drew the attention of the contestants on stage, including Han Fulai. Free tips were free, so why not listen? Maybe they could even spark some inspiration.

"The first secret: Take a deep breath, recall all the beautiful moments in your life, and savor that feeling again."

Bennett began to take a super deep breath.

"The second secret: good music can awaken art, and art is an important component of love poetry."

"Six-Finger Joseph" began to pluck his seven-stringed lyre.

"The third secret...and also the most important secret..."

Wendy trailed off, keeping everyone in suspense, until many in the audience were practically stamping their feet in impatience, before finally revealing, "The secret is: finish it in one go! Never give up halfway through, inspiration is fleeting!"

Han Fulai chuckled. Wendy's three secrets were more suited to novelists like Xingqiu and Chang Jiuye than poets. Novelists usually write in this way—recalling scenes in their minds, listening to music to stimulate inspiration, and then finishing today's update in one go.

Although these three tips didn't work for him, they seem to work for others.

Albert was seen writing furiously on the paper, and he finished his work in no time—indeed, he wrote it all in one go, and he even started to catch his breath after he finished.

"Oh dear, one participant has already finished!"

Wendy quickly stepped forward, took the love poem from Albert, and presented it to the three judges on the panel.

Albert faced the audience and proudly puffed out his chest.

"Gentlemen, I adore the Mondstadt idol, Lady Barbara! She's so cute and gentle, always supporting the people of Mondstadt with her smile and songs. Because of my love for Lady Barbara, I've even made like-minded friends and become the president of the Barbara Fan Club!"

"I bear the high hopes of all the members, and I vow to send my blessings to Lady Barbara on this special day! So..."

He turned to face Barbara.

Barbara covered her face.

"Please listen to the love poem I've written for you, Lady Barbara—"

On the judges' panel, Sister Victoria accepted Albert's poem from Wendy, and Albert began to recite it to Barbara with great emotion:

The farthest distance in the world

Not the distance between life and death

Instead, I was standing outside the church window.

You are in the window.

Albert's poem is short, but the emotions are indeed quite genuine—although there seem to be some parts that are hard to ignore.

The erudite librarian Lisa began her critique almost without hesitation: "Your poem is an imitation of 'The Farthest Distance in the World,' a forgery attributed to Barbatos by a modern bard—though not the work of the wind god, the verses themselves are a masterpiece and are quite widely circulated in Mondstadt. And the first two lines of your poem are even word for word identical to that one."

"The farthest distance in the world"

Not the distance between life and death

Instead, I'm standing right in front of you.

But you don't know that I love you.

(The furthest distance in the world

It is not between life and death

But when I stand in front of you

Yet you don't know that

I love you.

Just by listening to Lisa's recitation, one can tell that the beauty of the original's words and rhythm far surpasses that of Albert's imitation. Moreover, Albert directly copied the first two lines, which obviously deserves a significant deduction.

Even worse is...

“Mr. Albert, could you please explain your behavior? Why were you peeping at Sister Barbara through the church window?” Sister Victoria’s voice was very stern.

“…Isn’t this because Sister Victoria wouldn’t let me into the church?” Albert said, looking aggrieved.

“Zero marks.” Sister Victoria held up a sign that read “Zero.” “From now on, I will not allow you to come within ten meters of West Wind Cathedral. Please have staff take Mr. Albert to the interrogation room; I think he needs to be taught a lesson.”

A Knight of Favonius silently approached, grabbed Albert by the shoulder, and pulled him off the stage.

Barbara said softly to Albert, "Mr. Albert, please don't peek next time, okay?"

"Ah, Lady Barbara spoke to me."

Judging from Albert's infatuated expression, he'll probably do it again next time...

Later, Albert was detained by the Knights for fifteen days for voyeurism, and his "love poem" was given a new name: "Tears Behind Bars".

Shortly after Albert was taken away, Timaus raised his hand.

"I've finished writing too..."

His voice sounded unconfident.

Wendy also presented his poem to the three judges.

Timaus began to recite his poem somewhat haltingly:

"You and I, hand in hand, before the alchemical furnace"

The flames did not rise...

Because the flame of love burns in my heart.

This is also a very simple poem.

For a single man in his late twenties who was writing a love poem for the first time, this poem clearly exhausted Timaus's imagination of love.

"The writing has the air of an alchemist, using the flames of an alchemical furnace as a metaphor for the spark of love. The poet's sincerity is evident in the simple language. The transitions in the verses are also quite ingenious. Although it lacks the embellishment of rhythm, I think it's a very good work for beginners. 6 points," Lisa gave her evaluation.

"If the poet's emotions had been incorporated more naturally during the recitation, it could have received a higher score. 6 points," Sister Victoria also gave her score.

“Mr. Timaus, please be more confident next time, believe in yourself, and muster up your courage! If you like someone, you should say it out loud and let her know! Ah... but also be careful not to cause trouble for her... 7 points!” Gentle Barbara gave an extra point for friendship.

Timaeus, writing his first love poem, bowed to the three judges to express his gratitude. Although his average score of 6.5 might not be enough to get him into the finals, he undoubtedly gained more confidence—a confidence that indeed helped him, a few months later, to hold the hand of his beloved girl in front of the alchemy table in Liyue.

Chapter 237 Bennett's Love Poems

Shortly after Timaus left the stage, another contestant completed their work.

"I've finished writing!" Bennett held his poem high.

Like Timaus, Bennett was also writing poetry for the first time, but unlike Timaus, Bennett, as an adventurer, never lacked a spirit of adventure. Participating in this "poetry recitation" competition, in his view, was like an adventure; as long as he gave it his all, it wouldn't be in vain. Trying things he'd never tried before was, in itself, a kind of "adventure in life."

He didn't really care about the outcome—after all, he'd never successfully found any ultimate treasure in all his years as an adventurer...

Without waiting for Wendy to collect his poems, Bennett began to read them aloud:

"You and the Sea of ​​Ashes"

Very close

It's also very far.

One is on the other side of the continent

One in my heart

钩钩果

and dandelion

My treasure is for you.

After reading his work aloud, Bennett breathed a huge sigh of relief. He had successfully achieved the goal he had set for himself before the competition.

If participating in this competition was an adventure, then being able to write a piece and recite it in public was like reaching the end of the journey.

As for what score this poem would get... Bennett actually knew in his heart that his poem was not as good as Timaus's poem in terms of rhetoric, and he didn't understand iambic pentameter or anything like that at all. Overall, it was just a "modern poem" that anyone could write if they just pressed the enter key.

He grew up with the old adventurers in the guild. In terms of wilderness survival and combat skills, Bennett was indeed far superior to his peers, but in terms of literary literacy... Bennett, who had never attended a church school, could probably only say that he could read.

What supported him in completing this poem was Wendy's earlier statement: "Form doesn't matter, what matters is your intention."

But his work received an unexpectedly positive response—

Lisa actually clapped twice for him: "It's a very good piece of work. It's simple yet sincere, both intimate and relatable. The Silent Sea, the Hook Fruit, the Dandelion... You've incorporated your adventurous life into your poem, or rather, your adventurous life itself is poetry."

“Yes, very much in Mr. Bennet’s style, full of adventurer spirit, and you can feel a sense of groundedness and deep affection… How should I put it, it warms my heart.” Barbara also expressed her feelings, “I want to ask Mr. Bennet, why are hook berries and dandelions your treasures?”

Bennett scratched his head sheepishly and replied, "Dandelions represent wind and freedom, a treasure for every Mondstadt resident, while hookberries... are the ingredients I use to make medicine. Carrying some hookberry juice with me on adventures, I can drink it to relieve pain when injured and apply it to wounds to stop bleeding. Although its juice is sour and astringent, and it will numb my tongue, it's a good companion that helps me complete my adventures!"

Razer in the audience nodded vigorously.

The hooked berry is a berry with hooked thorns that grows only in desolate mountains like Wolf's Lair and Brightcrown Gorge. It migrates by hanging on the fur of wolves, and Raize, who lives with the wolf pack, is very familiar with it.

Because this fruit disperses its seeds using hooks, the seeds secrete a special sap that not only slightly numbs the sense of pain but also stops bleeding. This way, animals that come into contact with the hooked fruit won't notice, allowing it to carry the seeds to other suitable growing areas.

Wounded wolves sometimes consciously seek out this natural gift of healing, and for wolf packs, the hooked fruit is also a good companion.

Sister Victoria then spoke up: "I also have a question for you, Bennett. Our assignment was for a 'love poem,' but the emotion in your poem doesn't seem to be love for a lover. Could you explain?"

The young adventurer, still naive and untouched by love, chuckled sheepishly, "I... don't really know what love is like, but I've heard my fathers say that lovers eventually become family. So when I wrote this poem, the person I was thinking of was actually the father who saved me in the secret realm."

An old adventurer once ventured deep into a perilous place that was utterly hopeless.