Like other poetry gatherings, today's event lasted for the space of a single incense stick. Participants could write on any of three themes: spring outing, cherishing time, or mourning the dead.
Since the drawing order began with the spring outing theme, Ye Tian immediately picked up his brush to write his first poem on that subject.
As his goal for this competition was merely to place in the top five, he had no intention of pulling out all the stops for the first poem. Instead, he penned a relatively gentle and restrained piece about a spring excursion:
Chapter 104