Stephen

The Imperial Examination was the most important thing for the entire nation in Ming Dynasty. In the preliminary test of the Imperial Examination in the year 1499， there was a cheating scandal. The examiner The Cheng Min of that year was accused of having alleged leak the test subjects to Xu Jing in advance. Tang Yin was a friend of Xu Jing， and might knew the test subjects by chance. All three of them were in custody and it took a few months to clear this matter and clean their names. The scandal， however， haunted the talented yet proud Tang Yin ever since. He was a little less than 30 when the scandal broke out， an age most of the scholars were still struggling and dreaming of becoming an officer of the imperial court. He was ashamed of this matter for the rest of his life， and turned to sensual pleasures and made a living out of selling his paintings.

If the scandal never had happened， there might be an officer in the imperial court named Tang Yin， who might not become a high rank officer judging from his pride showed in this scandal. When it happened， China welcomed one of its most talented painter in the history. His paintings， especially his portraits of the ladies， vividly showed his loneliness and distress as an outcast of the imperial system.

弘治十二年，即公元1499年，命太子少保禮部尚書(shū)兼文淵閣大學(xué)士李東陽(yáng)、禮部右侍郎兼翰林院學(xué)士程敏政為會(huì)試考試官?？瓶既∈?，對(duì)于上至朝野、下至黎民，都是天大的事。然而，就在這一年的會(huì)試中，卻爆出了一樁丑聞。

《明孝宗實(shí)錄》記載，此事由戶科給事中華昶上奏揭發(fā)：“翰林學(xué)士程敏政假手文場(chǎng)，甘心市井，士子初場(chǎng)未入而《論語(yǔ)》題已傳誦于外，二場(chǎng)未入而表題又傳誦于外，三場(chǎng)未入而策之第三、四問(wèn)又傳誦于外。江陰縣舉人徐經(jīng)、蘇州府舉人唐寅等狂童孺子，天奪其魄，或先以此題驕于眾，或先以此題問(wèn)于人?！焙?jiǎn)而言之，考官程敏政泄題給了江陰縣舉人徐經(jīng)、蘇州府舉人唐寅。

科場(chǎng)舞弊，朝野震怒，程敏政、徐經(jīng)、唐寅都給下了大獄。案情復(fù)雜，幾位主角的供詞又多有前后矛盾。徐經(jīng)上奏華昶挾私誣指程敏政，又“自言敏政嘗受其金幣”，后來(lái)卻辯稱(chēng)“來(lái)京之時(shí)慕敏政學(xué)問(wèn)，以幣求從學(xué)，間講及三場(chǎng)題可出者；經(jīng)因與唐寅擬作文字，致?lián)P之外。會(huì)敏政主試，所出題有嘗所言者，故人疑其買(mǎi)題，而昶遂指之，實(shí)未嘗賂敏政。前俱拷治，故自誣服”。最后雖對(duì)舞弊之事無(wú)法定論，但考官程敏政與考生徐經(jīng)、唐寅之間卻有金錢(qián)往來(lái)已毋庸置疑。

經(jīng)此一事，本為江陰望族的梧塍徐氏由盛轉(zhuǎn)衰，天資聰穎、才華橫溢的唐寅亦從此一蹶不振。

如果沒(méi)有發(fā)生這件事，中國(guó)歷史上或許會(huì)多出一個(gè)叫做唐寅的官員，從其在科考案中展現(xiàn)的政治情商而言，或許爬不到很高的地位；但是，在這件事徹底挫敗了這個(gè)年輕人的政治理想之后，中國(guó)歷史上卻迎來(lái)了一位叫做唐伯虎的畫(huà)家。

科考案發(fā)那一年，唐寅尚不到30歲。在他的后半生中，始終以此事為恥。他放浪形骸、縱情聲色、賣(mài)畫(huà)為生，正所謂“不煉金丹不坐禪，不為商賈不耕田。閑來(lái)就寫(xiě)青山賣(mài)，不使人間造孽錢(qián)”。

即便不懂畫(huà)史的人，也該看過(guò)至少聽(tīng)說(shuō)過(guò)《唐伯虎點(diǎn)秋香》。電影雖是虛構(gòu)，但卻給人留下了“風(fēng)流才子”唐伯虎這一抹不去的印象。其實(shí)，說(shuō)是風(fēng)流，卻不過(guò)是其落魄人生中無(wú)奈的曠達(dá)。再多的才華也遮不住他心底的失意，看似瀟灑的行徑只是為了掩飾其內(nèi)心的脆弱。為了溫飽，唐寅來(lái)者不拒，甚至畫(huà)了很多春宮圖來(lái)?yè)Q酒錢(qián)。很多人說(shuō)，唐寅就如同他筆下的仕女，落寞、寂寥、感傷、無(wú)奈。

唐寅的仕女圖，大抵可分為兩類(lèi)，一類(lèi)工筆重彩，線條勁細(xì)，敷色妍麗，氣象高華，人物情態(tài)生動(dòng)入微，但技巧大于內(nèi)心，以《王蜀宮妓圖》為代表；一類(lèi)兼工帶寫(xiě)，筆墨流動(dòng)，線條抑揚(yáng)，格調(diào)簡(jiǎn)逸，攜帶著畫(huà)家的情感基因，如最能代表其內(nèi)心世界的《秋風(fēng)紈扇圖》——“秋來(lái)紈扇合收藏，何事佳人重感傷。請(qǐng)把世情詳細(xì)看，大都誰(shuí)不逐炎涼”，真是何等的凄楚與悲涼。