Li Bo told in the book "Floating Life with Love" that the famous "First Talent of Jiangnan" Tang Yin Tang Bohu, using a fashionable term to explain, he may be the first "house slave" in the strict sense in Chinese history.
The typical feature of "house slavery" is to borrow money to buy a house, that is, to borrow money to buy a house. When Tang Bohu bought a house in Suzhou, he borrowed a large amount of money from a friend who was an official in Beijing, and this money was used as a "mortgage loan" with a part of his own collection of books. Later, after more than two years of hard work to paint and sell paintings, he raised enough money to buy a house.
Image from the web
Tang Bohu liked the abandoned mansion too much, so he borrowed money to buy it and named it "Peach Blossom Farewell Industry". This property, he personally conceived the layout, carefully decorated, spent a lot of thought. At that time, he was at the bottom of his life, more than thirty years old, and everyone still called him "Tang Xieyuan".
Speaking of which, let's first understand the examination system of the Ming and Qing dynasties.
The scientific examination is divided into three levels, the lowest level is called the township examination, just like the current college entrance examination. The first place on the examination is called Xie Yuan, so the township test is also called the solution test.
The second level is called the exam, just like the master's degree exam now. The candidates were called Gongshi, and the first place was called Huiyuan.
The third level is the temple examination, that is, the emperor himself took the imperial examination in the Golden Ruan Treasure Hall, which is the highest level examination in ancient times, just like the current examination of doctors. The name of the entrance examination is Jinshi, and the first place is the champion.
At that time, Tang Bohu was the first in the township test, so he was called Xie Yuan. If there is no accident, with his talent, he is very likely to meet the yuan and yuan in high school. "Three elements in a row" is not impossible.
However, contrary to his wishes, he could only complain that Tang Bohu was not good at making friends. Xu Jing, a rich prince of Jiangyin who went to the exam with him, and Tang Bohu became friends with Mo Rebellion. Xu Jingwen was very poor, and asked Tang Bohu to help him write several articles before the exam. Unexpectedly, Xu Jing used money to buy the chief examiner and bought the exam questions of that year in advance, and the articles that Tang Bohu helped him write were exactly the works that should be written.
After the incident, Tang Bohu was dragged into the water by Xu Jing's fraudulent behavior. Later, although Tang Bohu was released from prison, the two blows he experienced completely changed his life.
With a heavy blow, he was completely locked out of the door of the imperial examination. For a student under the imperial examination system, it is undoubtedly a lost future, and there is no hope for his career.
The second blow, he spent more than a year in prison, and the humiliation he suffered had a huge change in his psychology.
He told his friend Wen Zhengming that the disaster of prison is extremely wronged, which is not nothing, and in prison he is often beaten and humiliated by prison guards. How could a generation of talented Tang Xieyuan endure such humiliation at that time?
Tang Bohu showed a madman's side in his later life, which was not unrelated to these two blows.
Back in Suzhou, Tang Bohu could only rely on selling calligraphy and paintings for a living, and it was difficult to ensure his material life, in fact, he had always been very poor. Why is he so poor that he still has to borrow money to buy peach blossoms? There is a legend that for "Autumn Fragrance"!
We have all seen Stephen Chow's movie "Tang Bohu Dian Qiu Xiang". In the film, Qiu Xiang girl looks back and smiles, which makes Tang Bohu fall for it, and he does not hesitate to buy himself as a slave to enter Washington, just to catch up with Qiu Xiang. The plot in Washington is both romantic and funny, and this drama is a nonsense funny classic.
This story can be seen from Feng Menglong's novel "Tang Xieyuan's Laughing Marriage", but this is only a novel. Folklore even said that Tang Bohu married nine wives. Is this really the case?
In fact, Tang Bohu's real marriage was much worse than the legend.
When he was twenty-five years old, Tang Bohu married a woman surnamed Xu, and the two had a very good relationship, but just three years later, Xu Shi fell ill and died. Later, he married another wife, because he would try to cheat, and when he returned to his hometown from prison, this wife also ran away with others, and Tang Bohu was seriously ill for this.
Later, a year before he bought peach blossoms, he married Shen Jiuniang, a confidant of his sufferings. After that, Tang Bohu's love life was bittersweet, although they had never been rich until they died, but the two lovers were also counted as enjoying a lifetime in the peach blossom industry.
Tang Bohu was killed for life because of the scientific examination case, and since then he has deeply resented the examination for the imperial examination, and the cynical he has written a poem "Yan zhi", which is a word cloud:
No alchemy, no sitting meditation, no farming for merchants.
Idle to write and sell it in the mountains, and do not make the world make evil money.
He even disguised himself as a beggar with Zhu Zhishan and others, selling songs on the street for money to drink. The second half of his life was cynical, wandering, crazy, and shocking. However, during this period, Tang Bohu also left many excellent calligraphy, paintings and poems.
For example, this "Peach Blossom Anthem", especially the last few sentences, shows that the heart of the crazy talent is still very rich.
Peach Blossom Wood In Peach Blossom An, Peach Blossom Fairy in Peach Blossom An;
Peach blossom immortals plant peach trees and pick peach blossoms to sell wine for money.
Drunkenness only sits in front of flowers, and drunk also comes to sleep under flowers;
Half awake and half drunk day after day, flowers falling and blossoming year after year.
May the old dead flower wine room, do not want to bow in front of the carriage and horse;
The car dust horse is full of rich people, and the wine cup flower branches are poor.
If the rich are compared to the poor, one is on the flat earth and the other is in the sky;
If he compares poverty to a cart and a horse, he will drive me to idleness.
Others laugh at me for being too crazy, I laugh at others who can't see through it;
There is no tomb of Wuling Haojie, no flowers and no wine hoes for the field.
At the age of fifty-three, Tang Bohu died of poverty and illness, and when he died, he had nothing but this remote peach blossom industry. Because of the inability to bury, can only be buried in the peach blossom dock, now Suzhou city near the peach blossom dock there is a road called "Tang Yin Tomb Lane".
Tang Bohu, a generation of talented people, has completed his life in this way, which cannot help but make people feel a lot of emotions.
If there is no scientific expedition, his life is likely to be another experience, lianzhong sanyuan, official luck and prosperity, and great ambitions.
But it is also possible that the world will be one less of a mercurial, uninhibited, talented painter, calligrapher and poet.