Miaozhen's father and the second son in the Xu family. He passed the Prefectural Examination at nineteen and became a Student, but failed the College Examination repeatedly. He first made a living by earning a Guan Gu at a Community School, but grew frustrated with storybooks that had strong beginnings but weak endings, so he began writing them himself. Despite not being taught by a famous master or coming from a scholarly family, he had a great talent for storybooks. For the first three years, his remuneration was only two or three qian a month, but in the fifth year, his monthly income reached a full ten taels. With this money, he could participate in the College Examination and support his family. He had already participated five times and failed all of them. This year was his sixth attempt, and he finally passed the Suzhou Prefecture College Examination, ranking fifty-sixth, becoming a genuine Xiucai. He is described as having a chubby build but being quite nimble, appearing good-tempered and gentle but actually being a man of perseverance. He is also learning woodblock carving in preparation for opening a bookstore.
