Chapter 2238: Late Autumn in Golden City (Part 2)

Clark, like a nimble bird, circled in the air and flew out of the window, arriving above the Mid-Mountain Manor. With a breath, the whole manor looked brand new.

Lex, whose hair was only slightly messed up, smoothed the broken hair on his temples and sighed in his heart. He remembered what Schiller once said, that you can never humiliate a sincere friend of yours, because they are willing to do anything for you, no matter if it is a fuss or makes them look bad.

Clark flew back and landed in front of Lex. Lex could see that he was obviously a little excited, but he was used to the luxury of Luther Manor since he was a child, and didn't see any difference in this manor.

"I'm thinking about renovating it." Lex walked to the window and sat down and said, "I bought this piece of land. The location is good. You can overlook the whole Gotham and hear the church bells. The only problem is that it's a little too old."

"What do you mean you want to tear it down and rebuild it?" Clark also came over and said, "No, don't do it, Lex, this is a cultural relic."

"Actually it's not." Lex snorted and said, "It was a poor imitation of the real protected building by a wealthy businessman who visited Wayne Manor about 20 years ago."

"Not at all." Clark walked away He sat down opposite Lex, pulled up a chair, and rested his arm on the table and said, "He restored these retro art forms very well, almost indistinguishable from the real thing."

"That's also fake."

"But they are beautiful." Clark looked up again and looked around the entire hall and said, "And this is not like Wayne Manor, it's completely different. There is no such thing as, I don't know how to say it, a kind of atmosphere that makes me feel sad and depressed."

Lex followed his gaze. It was early morning, the air was slightly cool, the morning dew was hanging low, and all the light shining into the manor through the windows was like a carefully carved ice sculpture.

"Don't care about that." Clark shook his head and said, "Don't care about the past that has nothing to do with you, but think about the parts that touched you when you firmly chose it. What are they?"

"The location is very good." Lex answered without hesitation: "Like I said, the terrain is high, the scenery is good, and it can overlook Wayne Manor."

"Is Wayne important to you?" Clark frowned slightly and said, "I don't see that you two are very good."

"Of course not as good as you."

"Don't say that."

"I just feel very confused." Lex looked at Clark and said, "You should choose Wayne Manor to stay overnight, right?"

"Do I have any reason to do this?"

Clark's question made Lex stunned, but he still answered: "I said, you two are better, at least more familiar, and I heard that you invited him to your house, so it is reasonable for him to invite you."

"In fact, he didn't invite me."

Lex was surprised again. He didn't think Bruce was such a careless person.

The Gotham Music Festival is about to open, or it has been promoted half a year in advance. Clark definitely didn't come on a whim. Maybe when he heard the news, he decided to come and join in the fun.

Then it is necessary to say hello to Bruce Wayne, the Gotham man he is most familiar with. After hearing the news, Bruce should of course invite Clark as soon as possible, just like Lex said, because Clark invited him.

This is a social rule that children of any age understand. Good friends should invite each other. Today I go to your house, and tomorrow you go to my house. Even if we are not good friends, Wayne Manor has no shortage of places, and it is not a problem to show hospitality.

So when Clark said that Wayne did not invite him, Lex's first reaction was that the two of them had a quarrel, and who was angry with whom, and they were in a cold war, so they were unwilling to meet each other.

"Did you tell him you were coming to the festival?"

"Of course, I saw it on the news about three months ago, and I saw a few singers on the list that I often listen to, and I hardly ever go to concerts, so I thought I'd give it a try."

"So what did he say?"

"'Good idea.'"

Lex frowned deeply, it sounded so rude, so perfunctory, contrary to the social etiquette he had learned in the first 20 years of his life, and even inconsistent with the most basic way of getting along.

"Aren't you angry?" Lex asked, because he really didn't see any angry expression on Clark's face.

"No, I think it's great." Clark shrugged and said, "If he invites me, I might feel embarrassed."

"But he has been to your house."

"Yes, I'm not saying that I can't stay with him, the problem is that if I go, I can't refuse his butler to drive me."

"But I'm not just here to see the music festival. I heard that there will be night markets on the streets during the festival, as well as surfing and fishing competitions. In short, I haven't traveled in Gotham yet."

"If that's the case, I might have to go back and forth several times a day, and according to your rules, I don't know how to say it, but he must send a car, otherwise it will be defined as rude."

"Although I think it's not shameful to wander among the vendors, but if they know I'm going to travel, oh, God, luxury cruises, golf, diving, skydiving..."

Lex couldn't help but smile. He wasn't a very smiling person, but the scene of Superman carrying a skydiving bag was really funny.

Clark showed a bitter face and said, "Your set is very good, but it doesn't suit me. I just need to fly higher to avoid observation, and I can come and go freely in the city without having to wait for a car."

"But I know I can't convince Wayne's butler. He will let me stay off the ground in another upper-class way."

Lex really couldn't hold it back. Many non-human rules in the upper class are outrageous in the eyes of real non-humans. This is really weird and absurd.

"Well, not entirely for this." Clark added, "I heard you graduated, but I haven't congratulated you yet. Although I don't know if you will like it, I have prepared a graduation gift for you."

Clark took out a box from his bag and handed it over along the table. Lex was really surprised, but he still took the box.

"I thought about giving you a camera, but I didn't hear that you have a hobby of photography. Those professional equipment don't look very good, but the Polaroid is a bit too simple."

"I asked Bruce, and he said I could give you some photos I took, but that was a disaster, because the most photos I took recently were Batman. If you hang these photos at home, people may have different views on your sexual orientation, because that's how people see me."

"Of course, there are cakes. I tried it, but the cakes from the cake shop I like don't seem to be able to adapt to the atmospheric pressure above 20,000 feet. They will collapse and become very ugly, so forget it."

At this time, Lex had opened the box, and what surprised him again was that there was a bag of seeds inside. He looked up at Clark.

"You know what? I live on the second floor of a stone house at Kent Farm. Outside my bedroom window is a large farmland, now full of green vegetables. Every time I get up, I can see them growing a little bigger."

"This is a very gratifying and exciting process, because cabbage has a romantic nickname - the flower of the ridge. Cabbage will be a pointed bud when it is young. As they grow bigger, the outermost large leaves will gradually bloom, and the color will gradually darken from the center of the flower, from light yellow to dark green, and the change is very natural."

"One by one, they will be neatly arranged on the ridge, growing the same size, but opening completely differently. When I wake up one morning, Seeing the morning sun shining on them, the shadows cut the gaps between the leaves more intensely, and I would suddenly be shocked by the grand scene of this magnificent vitality. "

"After all, most people will not have the opportunity to see 20,000 flowers clustered together in their lifetime. It seems that this farm, my home, is a society of flowers that heals me again and again."

Clark looked at Lex and said, "I heard that your graduation project is to let Gotham see the sun again, so the reward you deserve is of course to appreciate how the sun builds this lush planet from the desolate. Believe me, it must be more beautiful than you think."

Lex looked down at the seeds in his hand.

He never thought in his life that one day the question of "Have you seen cabbage bloom?" would linger in his heart, making him feel a kind of shame, as if he was the country bumpkin.

Because he really had never seen raw cabbage, he had no idea what this vegetable looked like before it was cooked.

Yes, Pamela had shown him the beating cabbage, but that thing, apart from the name cabbage, was about as different from the vegetables on his table as a dinosaur and a chicken.

If he had seen it, he would have been able to maintain standard etiquette, nod and smile, and accept the gift in a relaxed manner, but he couldn't.

So Lex stood there for a long time, and then asked a question that he himself felt was stupid, "Are there 20,000 seeds here?"

"Of course not, there are only about 2,000 seeds here."

Lex stared at him.

"No, no, no, you can't grow 20,000 cabbages. That would require almost an acre of land, and that would require a large harvester. And you wouldn't be able to eat them all after harvesting them. The vegetables would go bad very quickly."

"Uh... well, how about this, you can try planting one in a flowerpot first, and if it grows up, I'll give you some more seeds, and maybe you can find a suitable field in the suburbs."

Lexdi was still staring at Clark, and Clark covered his eyes and said, "Well, it's not that romantic. Every time the cabbage is harvested, it will be on the Kent family's table for the next two months, so I almost don't eat cabbage."

"If you really want to see it, I can invite you to Kent Farm, in the next cabbage season, and then you can eat about 16 kinds of cabbage made by Martha, most of which are delicious."

When Clark began to name the dishes, Lex finally retracted his gaze.

He held the seeds in his hand, tilted his head and thought for a while, then asked: "Who do you think is smarter, me or Bruce Wayne?"

Clark was stunned.

"Is this important?"

"Of course."

Lex was surprised by Clark's seriousness in thinking. He was actually thinking, and it seemed that he had come up with a result.

"In my understanding, based on what I know about you two, Bruce should be smarter."

Clark thought Lex would ask why, but unexpectedly Lex said directly: "No, I am smarter."

"Why?" Clark asked.

"Do you know how I graduated from Victor and Schiller at the same time?"

Clark suddenly reacted. Yes, how did Lex graduate quietly? Wasn't his professor also Schiller Rodriguez?

The commotion caused by Bruce and Schiller at the time left a deep impression on Clark, but when it was Lex's turn, it was so calm that no one heard the wind.

"How did you do it?" Clark was almost in front of Lex's nose. He was so curious.

"It's very simple." Lex snorted and said, "When I was with Schiller, I studied the physical science and technology of the cloud-clearing device. When I was with Victor, I studied the sociological impact of Gotham seeing the sun again. See, isn't this a successful graduation?"

Clark was stunned.

Suddenly, he grabbed Lex's hand, shook it vigorously twice, and looked at him with a very sincere look.

"Lex Luthor is the smartest person in the world!"