In a viral incident in Anyang, Henan province, China, a parent inadvertently used their child’s summer homework as a coaster for instant noodles, causing the writing on the paper to disappear. Upon seeing this, the child burst into tears out of distress, leading to the news making it to the top of the trending searches on Baidu on August 27th.
A video circulating online from mainland China shows an English homework book missing a circular portion from the middle.
According to a post by a Chinese social media creator known as “Xiaotianxiashiv” on August 26th, the child’s mother explained that the father had placed the child’s English homework book under the instant noodle bowl while eating to prevent scalding the table. Initially, no one paid much attention, but when the child returned home and saw the homework book, they were shocked to find that the densely written text had completely disappeared, leading to a moment of distress and tears.
The mother also found the sight unbelievable as if the entire homework book had been pixelated, with the portion under the bowl showing a clear curve where all the writing had vanished.
After the incident, the parents were at a loss and turned to seeking help online. Some netizens suggested putting the book in the freezer for a while, and following this advice, the mother froze the book overnight. Surprisingly, the writing reappeared as the frozen ink became visible again.
Some netizens explained that this phenomenon may be due to the use of a “heat-erasable pen.”
A heat-erasable pen is a special type of pen where the ink becomes transparent at high temperatures, effectively erasing the previous markings. The heat from the noodle bowl likely caused the disappearance of the writing. Writing with such pens can be easily affected by heat, impacting the visibility of the ink markings.
Additionally, some netizens cautioned that the cold temperature of the freezer may not fully restore the ink of the heat-erasable pen, but it may temporarily bring back some markings. Nevertheless, the effectiveness of this method may vary depending on the quality of the pen and the type of ink used.