Also known as Xu Huai Ning, he is the son of Xu Laosi and the nephew of Xu Jinnian. Three months older than Jinnian, he is a frail scholar studying at the Academy in town. He bears a seventy to eighty percent resemblance to Xu Jinnian. Xu Laosan and his wife have treated him as their own son for eighteen years, doting on him and considering him their heir for funeral rites.
