Xu Zaisi styled Deke, Xu was born in Jiaxing (belonging to today's Zhejiang). As he likes eating sugar, he chose "Tianzhai" (Study of Sweetness) as his literary name. Xu was paralleled with Guan Yunshi for the polish of his Sanqu poetry, with 103 short lyrics attributed to him, most of which depict natural beauty and the life of women. Employing skillfully the techniques similar to line-drawing in Chinese painting and ingenious parallel couplets, Xu achieves an effect of concision. He also makes good use of colloquialisms and folk songs. His style is either minute and deep, lyrical and elegant, or deep and heroic when speculations on history are concerned.
徐再思 字德可，嘉兴（今属浙江）人。好吃甘怡，因自号甜斋。工散曲，与贯云石（号酸斋）齐名。现存小令一百零三首，多描写自然风光和闺阁之情，擅用白描手法，字句凝练，对仗工巧，善用俗谣俚曲，曲辞清丽，抒情细腻深切，风格秀雅。一些怀古之作，寓意深远，格调悲壮。
Lovesickness to the tune of Prelude to the Limpid River
清江引·相思
Lovesickness is like a creditor in some way,
相思有如少债的，
Who presses his debtor every day.
每日相催逼，
He always carries a load of grief,
常挑着一担愁，
But never obtains three percent interest as relief
准不了三分利，
Unless he meets her again the capital he cannot retrieve.
这本钱见他时才算得。