"Sing whenever you want"
The summer of my fourth grade was ignited by "Super Girl".
That heat wave was even more scorching than the summer in Hanshi. It rushed out from the television in every household, drowning out the chirping of cicadas in the camphor trees and sweeping over us, a group of little birds that had just settled down in our golden cages.
On Friday night, my living room became a makeshift base, filled with the sweet smell of watermelon and the scent of floral water.
The adults occupied the sofa, chatting about gossip at work and prices at the vegetable market.
We kids had already occupied the best seats closest to the TV.
"It's about to start! It's about to start!" As soon as the commercial ended, I rushed to the TV and skillfully turned up the volume by two more notches.
"Lin Nian! Keep your voice down! Your ears are going to be deafened!" My mother frowned and said from the other end of the sofa.
I reluctantly drew out an "Oh" and symbolically turned the volume button back one notch to give my mother some face.
"It's started, it's started!" Lulu patted my legs excitedly, making me grimace in pain. "Lulu! Pat your own legs!"
But in fact, when the adults were chatting later, the topic couldn't avoid this show.
"I heard that this program is very popular now, and everyone is voting." Aunt Su was eating melon seeds.
"That's right. The girls in my unit are texting all day, voting for... Li Yuchun?" My dad chimed in, baffled. "One dollar a text message? That's a lot of money."
This statement immediately aroused our collective opposition.
"Dad! You don't understand! This is called supporting a dream!" I immediately turned around and retorted.
My dad shook his head helplessly, "See, these kids have also gone crazy."
The theme song "Sing If You Want to Sing" sounded, and we sang along excitedly, "Sing if you want to sing, sing loudly, even if no one applauds me..."
"Mom! Cell phone! Hurry!" As the voting session approached, Jiang Yuanzhou reached out to his mother.
Aunt Zhou took out her Nokia from her pocket and handed it to me. "Just send one message. It's one dollar per message. Don't press any buttons randomly."
Jiang Yuanzhou waved Aunt Zhou's phone proudly, "I want to vote for Li Yuchun!"
"I like Bibi Zhou!" I declared immediately, then turned to look at my mother expectantly, "Mom! I want a phone too!"
My mother wasn't as good-tempered as Aunt Zhou. Without even looking up, she said, "No! Why are you joining in the fun, kid? Just watch your TV."
I turned my head back in disappointment and could only watch Jiang Yuanzhou operate skillfully, feeling sour in my heart.
But on second thought, Li Yuchun is pretty cool too, so rounding it off, she's in my camp.
Lulu muttered quietly, "My mom is also stingy and refuses to give me a cell phone."
She secretly glanced at the adults sitting behind her and lowered her voice, "But I secretly sent a message from her phone and almost got caught. It scared me to death."
Ye Zhixia interjected, "I think Jane Zhang sang the best."
The only one who is completely immune to this is Lu Xingye.
He scoffed at it, thinking it was far less interesting than his Ultraman and Super Mario, but we would still drag him to watch it, and then he would frown at the thunderous cheers on TV.
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This summer, in addition to sandpits, camphor fruits and endless summer homework, our world also has Super Girl avatars, glittering stickers and character cards.
The owner of the convenience store is a shrewd woman.
She broke the whole sheet of stickers into pieces and sold them individually, at ten cents a piece.
We were so tempted that we crowded in front of the counter and made our selections carefully.
"I want this photo of Bibi Zhou! And this photo of Li Yuchun wearing a hat!"
Lulu and I contributed almost all of our daily pocket money to Aunt Wang's plastic money box.
My pencil case and book covers were soon covered with all kinds of Zhou Bichang's stickers.
There is also a photo of Jane Zhang on Ye Zhixia’s pencil case.
It was as if I had the "blessing" of my idol, and I even had more motivation to do math problems.
Lulu even puts her worship into action.
One weekend, she walked into the classroom with her head held high, wearing short hair just like Li Yuchun's. She looked neat and handsome, and won the envy and admiration of us fans.
Although the price she paid was that Aunt Zhou didn't look at her nicely for a whole week and she kept saying she was "neither male nor female" for a long time, she was very proud of herself and felt that she was infinitely close to the glory of her idol.
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"Of course Li Yuchun is the best! The most popular!" I slammed the table and refused to question it.
Ye Zhixia rarely insisted on her own opinion, "But Jane Zhang is a better singer, and not everyone can sing the dolphin sound. Isn't it more important to have a good singing voice?" She tried to reason.
"Popularity is king! Look at the SMS vote count!" I excitedly stood up, hands on my hips, and looked down at Ye Zhixia sitting on the sofa. "You have to admit, Li Yuchun is more special!"
As Lulu has the same hairstyle as Li Yuchun, she naturally stands on my side.
I felt like I had found an ally, and immediately pressed on, looking at Jiang Yuanzhou, who was sitting cross-legged playing Tetris. "Jiang Yuanzhou, tell me! Who's better?"
I know Jiang Yuanzhou supports Li Yuchun.
As expected, he didn't even raise his head and said, "I think Li Yuchun's singing is very exciting."
I immediately showed a smug expression as if to say, "See, the truth is in the hands of the majority," as if our three to one vote represented irrefutable justice.
Ye Zhixia was surrounded by us, her face flushed red, and finally she lowered her head, pursed her lips and said nothing.
A childish sense of victory flashed through my mind. I felt that I had won the debate and successfully defended the honor of my idol.
Many years later, I learned a term called "survivor bias", which means that the preferences of people around me are not the same as those of the whole world.
I also gradually understood that popularity and singing skills are not an either-or choice. True appreciation can take many forms, and there is no need to prove one's own correctness by belittling other people's love.
But at that time, I was completely immersed in the craze for idols, seeing them as a symbol of "trend" and "personality", and using them to measure the "taste" of my friends.
At that time, I had no idea that even the closest friends might have different dreams in their hearts.
Super Girl is like a giant funhouse mirror, reflecting our innocent passion and dreams, and also inadvertently magnifying the immature yet sharp edges in my character.
The sand castle of childhood showed the first crack under the wave of "Super Girl".
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