In the twenty-first year of the Wanli Calendar (1593), when the 73-year-old Xu Wei swallowed his last breath in his "Crooked House of East and West", he absolutely could not imagine that he could have so many fans in the future and be named the "Three Great Talents of the Ming Dynasty". As the founder of the Chinese Splash Ink Painting School and the founder of the Qingteng School, even Zheng Banqiao calls himself a "lackey under the Qingteng Gate", which can be imagined that Xu Wei's position in the calligraphy and painting industry. However, such a unique genius, even eight times the township exam did not win, think about it, if someone in modern society has failed the eight college entrance examinations, he will definitely be pointed out by the people around him, and others can say what ugly words are behind their backs. Xu Wei was even more miserable, he was famous as a prodigy at the beginning, but he repeatedly failed in the examination, and he had no face to face the strange eyes of his fathers and fellow villagers in his hometown.
Before his fame as a prodigy, Xu Wei did not have a happy childhood. Although he was born in a family of official eunuchs, he was born to the Lady Miao of zhengfang, who was brought to Xu Mansion by lady Miao, not only was his father dead in the first hundred days of his birth, he had never enjoyed his father's love since he was a child, and when he was ten years old, his birth mother was expelled from the family by Lady Miao, and even Lady Miao died when he was fourteen years old, so Xu Wei completely became a lonely person and could only live with his half-brother Xu Huai. However, the Xu family genes are good, with the growth of age, Xu Wei grew into a big handsome man, the history books describe him as "looking great and fat, the sound is as loud as a crane", the figure is slender and majestic, white and pure, the voice is good and clear like a crane, it is simply the dream lover of many young girls. Xu Wei is still a well-known talent, and the local gentlemen compare him to Yang Xiu of the Eastern Han Dynasty and Liu Yan of the Tang Dynasty, and directly insist that he will become a great talent in the future.
However, Xu Wei, who had high hopes, surprised countless people. At first, everything went well, in the nineteenth year of Jiajing (1540), the 20-year-old Xu Wei passed the Xiucai examination, and the following year he entered the Pan clan of the rich family of Shaoxing, and also assisted in handling official documents in the county court of his father-in-law's main book, paving the way for his future career. Newly married Yan'er, with his wife on the side, Xu Wei only felt that the spring breeze was proud, and life was full of warmth and happiness. But the weather was unpredictable, the life of love lasted only five years, the 19-year-old wife suffered from tuberculosis, leaving Xu Wei and his son who was less than two years old to die, and the darkest moment of Xu Wei's life came.
Earlier, the eldest brother Xu Huai accidentally ate Dan Medicine and died violently, the second brother Xu Lu also fell ill and died in another place, and the top beams and pillars of the Xu family collapsed violently. There is no main bone in the family, any cat and dog will want to step on it, the local gentry Mao clan took the opportunity to falsely claim that Xu Huai owed him a large amount of debt before he died, and then forcibly occupied the Xu family's ancestral house and field property, and the Xu family completely became an empty shell. In order to make a living, Xu Wei had to rent a house in the east of San'in City, and the private school was named "Yizhitang" to receive a few schoolchildren to subsidize the family. On a snowy day this year, he wrote a poem that reads, "Chaos is infinite, vast and unknowable." Pondering the top of the mountain, the immortals want to know. At this time, Xu Wei could be said to be cold-hearted, looking around, and the world was so big that there was no place for him to stand.
Bad luck and bad fate, Xu Wei not only had a bad life, but also achieved nothing in his career. After being admitted to Xiucai, Xu Wei failed to pass the Shaoxing Provincial Township Examination twice, and in the nearly twenty years that followed, he participated in a total of eight township examinations, all of which were listed as unnamed and fell behind Sun Shan. Fortunately, even though his life was so dark, Xu Wei at least had poetry and distant places, and he formed associations with the Shanyin scribes Shen Lian, Xiao Mian, and others, indulged in the mountains and rivers, and began to follow Ji Ben and Wang Qi, and immersed himself in studying Wang Shouren's teachings. However, Xu Wei was not a person who did not hear anything out of the window and only read the books of the sages, he had always paid attention to the changes in the situation, and when the "Gengshu Change" occurred in the twenty-ninth year of Jiajing (1550), he also indignantly waved ink to write an article to scold Yan Song.
The so-called "humble did not dare to forget the worries of the country", Jiajing thirty-three years (1554), after hearing the news of the Wukou nuisance along the coast, Xu Weiyi threw himself into the defense of Shaoxing without hesitation. Because of his familiarity with the art of war, he showed excellent military talent during this period, and was recruited by Hu Zongxian, the governor of Zhejiang, to serve as a clerk in the shogunate. One day, Hu Zongxian captured two white deer in Zhoushan and asked them to present them to the emperor on behalf of the emperor. He made three consecutive sheets, the article sentences are very simple, the literary style is remarkable, originally Sejong saw two auspicious white deer was overjoyed, and then read the table chapter is even more overjoyed, read the rise and make a note for the xiaochen to write down. Relying on these two white deer, Hu Zongxian regained the attention of the emperor, his status rose, Xu Wei's reputation became famous, and the courtiers began to inquire about Xu Wei's name.
However, after a few years of unhappiness, the political direction of the central government changed, Yan Song was pulled down by Xu Jie, and the first assistant of the cabinet was transposed. Immortals fight, mortals suffer, Hu Zongxian was recommended by Yan Song Yizi to be repeatedly promoted, proper Yan Dang, now Yan Song's father and son fell, Hu Zongxian was also unlucky, not long after he was deposed, escorted to Beijing, and then committed suicide in prison. Hu Zongxian's death was a thunderbolt for Xu Wei, who had been on the list for many years and had hit his enthusiasm for life, and now he had to worry about being framed and persecuted all day, and Xu Wei finally suffered from mental illness.
According to his own afterward recollection, every time he fell ill during this time, he completely lost his mind, as if possessed by a demon, unable to control his words and deeds. It was not surprising that he injured others and injured himself when he was ill, he committed suicide nine times before and after, and he was beheaded with an axe and stabbed the kidney with an iron cone, but the result was miraculously survived. But one day, when he fell ill, he suddenly suspected that his stepwife was cheating, and he was wearing a green hat, so he brutally killed his wife Zhang Shi, and he was also arrested and imprisoned.
In prison, Xu Wei finally gradually sobered up, began to study the art of calligraphy and painting, and completed the annotation of "Zhou Yishan Tongqi". Fortunately, he had made many friends before, and Zhu Dashou, who was also the "Ten Sons of Yuezhong", and Zhang Yuanchen, who was from the Yuanyuan, ran around calling for help, and finally fished Xu Wei out at the amnesty of the first year of the Wanli Calendar (1573). After his release from prison, Xu Wei continued his life of wandering skeletons, at this time he was alone again, his behavior became more and more wild and uninhibited, and he devoted himself wholeheartedly to the creation of poetry and painting, and in his later years, his calligraphy, poetry, and painting all reached an excellent artistic realm. At this time, there are naturally many rich people who come to the door to ask for paintings, and he often closes the door and shouts behind the door: "Xu Mou is not there!" "Not even a single bit of ink and pen and ink will be applied."
In the twenty-first year of the Wanli Calendar (1593), the 73-year-old Xu Wei died suddenly, accompanied by only an old dog in front of the bed, and his works were all deceived by the protégés and juniors, and he had no money and half on him, just as the inscription poem in his own painting "Ink Grape Map" said: "Half a life has become a man, and the independent book is whistling in the evening wind." The pearl at the bottom of the pen has nowhere to sell, and it is idle and thrown in the wild vine. ”