Transmigrated to Raise Panther Cubs novel Chapter 356

Chapter 356 Hometown

After a long moment Zachary let out a soft laugh. “Feeding the mosquitoes out here, are we?”

“Come on, let’s head inside!

Finished

Zachary’s old room sat on the west side of the house. Since he’d always rented somewhere else for work, most of his things had never left, and walking back in now felt like stepping straight through a tear in time.

Stacks of old books sat piled in the corner. Yellowed posters clung to the walls. On the desk sat a pen holder shaped like a tree root, stuffed with pens covered in cartoon characters, a ruler with its numbers worn down to nothing, and an eraser gone gray with age.

A photo frame stood beside it all, a picture from the first time he’d gone to the ocean at sixteen. Sunset, sand, the shoreline, and a kid sitting on a rock with both arms thrown wide open, embracing the sea breeze.

That year, his grandmother’s health had taken a worrying turn, and the local doctors couldn’t pin down what was wrong, so they’d sent her to a bigger hospital. The tests came back clean in the end, and the three of them had stood outside that hospital, laughing until the laughter turned into tears.

His grandfather had looked up at the clear sky and said, well, since they’d already come this far, why not turn it into a trip? So he’d taken Zachary’s grandmother and Zachary down to the nearby coast.

To save on a place to stay, they’d only lingered until nightfall before catching the early morning train home. But even years later, Zachary still remembered the feeling of bare feet sinking into warm sand that evening, and the shapes of the seashells he’d picked up off the ground.

Matthew and Jaden leaned in close, staring at the photo. Zachary back then had looked so young, his pale face still rounded with a bit of baby fat, his eyes crinkled and his grin stretched wide with pure happiness.

Zachary snapped out of the memory and dragged over a chair, setting it beside the wardrobe. He braced a hand against the wall, climbed up, and pulled down a large box from on top of the wardrobe.

Matthew rushed to help catch it. “What’s in here?”

“Treasures from when I was a kid,” Zachary said, blowing the dust off the lid before opening it. Inside sat a jumble of odds and ends.

A beaded bracelet carved from cherry pits, a wooden toy gun and a spinning top, a handheld game console small enough to fit in his palm, a tin frog that hopped when wound up, marbles of every color, a plastic sword, comic books, a slingshot.

Jaden was instantly captivated by all of it, cradling each piece in his hands like priceless gems. Matthew crouched down and started winding up the tin frog, and Zachary couldn’t help but laugh watching the two of them.

The bed in the room was made of wood, with a cotton mattress laid over the frame. It was hard as a rock to lie on, but for Matthew and Jaden, that hardly mattered. They’d slept on bare stone before without a second thought.

Zachary spread a woven mat over the top, and in the corner stood an old standing fan that still worked

8:58 am P p pp

Chapter 356 fometown

which plugged in, though it hummed loudly the whole time it ran.

Finished

Three people crammed into one bed hade for a tight fit. In the end, Zachary ended up sprawled half on top of Matthew. Despite the warmth pressed against him, after a full day on the bus, his eyes closed and he

was out within minutes.

The village sat tucked deep in the mountains, and as the sky began to lighten, the crowing of roosters and the chatter of birds rose up in waves all around them.

Zachary rolled over, only for Matthew to pull him right back, peppering his face with kisses before wrapping both arms around his waist and holding him close for a long while. Eventually, Zachary carefully eased himself up and sat upright.

A stone grinding wheel sat out in the courtyard, perfect for two black panthers looking to sharpen their claws. Matthew and Jaden each took a side, rear ends raised in the air, working through their front claws and then their back ones before grabbing a piece of wood and gnawing away at it with steady, rhythmic crunches.

After their workout, father and son rinsed off with cold water from the well, then headed into the kitchen, one tending the fire under the stove while the other stood at the cutting board, chopping vegetables for breakfast.

Zachary wandered out stretching, crouched by the basin near the courtyard wall, and brushed his teeth and washed his face under the tap. He looked up and watched white smoke curl slowly into the sky.

He leaned against the kitchen doorway, eyes crinkled with warmth, and traced a heart shape with his fingers. “Look at my two hardworking little kittens.”

Matthew leaned his face in, and Zachary kissed him. Jaden mimicked the motion right after, leaning his own face forward, and got a kiss in return too.

After breakfast, Zachary gathered up the things they’d bought in town and led Matthew and Jaden up toward the fields on the mountain behind the house. The path was overgrown and rough going, so Matthew took the bundle from Zachary’s arms and walked ahead to clear the way.

As they passed someone’s pig pen, Jaden gasped in surprise. “The grunt-beasts here are pink!

“They look so sweet.”

r

Matthew glanced over too, and the pigs in the pen immediately panicked, squealing and huddling together in the corner.

A neighbor walked by carrying his breakfast bowl. “Heading up to the fields?”

Zachary smiled. “Yeah, just going to check on things.”

A flatter stretch of land further up was planted thick with peanuts, the leaves already turning a crisp gold under the relentless sun, signaling the crop was nearly ready.

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