บท 3097: Chapter 2249: Autumn Comes Late in the Golden City (II)_2
Lex couldn't help but grin, he wasn't one to smile often, but the sight of Superman burdened with a parachute bag was downright hilarious.
Clark made a face like he'd bitten into a sour fruit and said, "What you have is good, but it doesn't suit me. I just need to fly high enough to escape observation, then I can move freely in the city, without having to wait for a car."
"But I know I wouldn't be able to convince Wayne's butler. He would make sure I never touch the ground, in a very upper-class society kind of way."
Lex couldn't hold it in anymore, many of the non-human rules in high society seemed absurd to an actual non-human. It was both bizarre and ludicrous.
"Well, it's not entirely because of that," Clark added, "I heard you graduated, and I haven't congratulated you yet. I don't know if you'll like it, but I've prepared a graduation gift for you."
Clark reached into the bag he was carrying, took out a box, and slid it over. Lex was genuinely surprised, but he still reached out to take the box.
"I thought about giving you a camera, but I hadn't heard you'e into photography, and professional equipment is not very aesthetically pleasing, but an instant-camera is a bit too pedestrian."
"I asked Bruce, and he suggested I could give you something related to my own photography, but that would be a disaster. The vast majority of my recent photos are of Batman, and if you hung those up at home, people might start questioning your sexual orientation, they do when they see mine."
"Of course, there's also cake, but the cakes from the bakery I like don't seem to take kindly to altitudes over 20,000 feet, they collapse and become very unsightly, so I scrapped that idea."
By now, Lex had already opened the box, to his surprise it contained a bag of seeds. He looked at Clark.
"You know, at the Kent Farm, I live in a stone house, up on the second floor. My bedroom window overlooks a large area of farmland now filled up with lush vegetables. Every morning when I wake up, they seem to have grown a bit more."
"It's a delightful and thrilling process because cabbages have a romantic nickname - the Flowers of the Fields. young cabbages are sharp buds that grow bigger and bigger, with the outer leaves gradually unfurling. The color deepens naturally from the heart of the cabbage outwards, from light yellow to dark green."
"One by one, they neatly align on the edges of the field, all roughly the same size, but each opening at a different stage. Some mornings I wake up to see the first light of day shining down on them, the shadows sharply defining the gaps between the leaves, and I am suddenly struck by the grandeur of the spectacle set up by such overwhelming vitality."
"After all, most people never get to see twenty thousand flowers blooming together, like a flower society. This farm, my home, has healed me time and time again."
Clark looked at Lex and said, "I heard your graduation project was to let the sunlight return to Gotham, so what you deserve is to appreciate how the sun built this vibrant planet from a barren land. Trust me, it's more beautiful than you could ever imagine."
Lex looked at the seeds in his hand.
He hadn't considered that one day the question "Have you ever seen a cabbage bloom?" would come preying on his mind, giving rise to some strange embarrassment, as if he were the country bumpkin.
Because he really hadn't ever seen a raw cabbage. He had no idea what this vegetable looked like before it was cooked.
Sure, Pamela had shown him violent cabbages, but those things, apart from the name cabbage, were as different from the vegetable he had on his dinner table as dinosaurs from chickens.
If he had seen one before, he'd be able to maintain proper etiquette now, nod and smile a little, and accept this gift in a relaxed and casual manner, but no, he couldn't.
Lex stood there frozen for a while and then asked a question he himself deemed foolish, "Are there twenty thousand seeds in here?"
"Of course not, there are roughly only two thousand."
Lex stared at him.
"Oh no, you can't grow twenty thousand cabbages, that would need about an acre of land, a large harvester and even then, you wouldn't be able to finish them all. Vegetables go bad quickly."
"Er...okay, how about this, you could start by planting one in a flowerpot. If it grows well, I will give you more seeds, perhaps you can find a suitable field on the outskirts."
Lex was still staring at Clark. Clark covered his eyes and said, "Okay, it's not that romantic. Whenever cabbages are harvested, for the next two months, the Kent family's table will be laden with them, so I hardly eat cabbage."
"If you truly wish to see it, I can invite you to the Kent Farm, during the next cabbage harvest season. Then you can taste about sixteen different cabbage dishes made by Martha, most of them are delicious."
When Clark started listing the names of the dishes, Lex finally shifted his gaze.
He held the seeds in his hand and tilted his head to think, then he asked, "Who do you think is smarter, me or Bruce Wayne?"
Clark looked startled.
"Does it matter?"
"Of course."
The seriousness with which Clark considered his question drew the attention of Lex. He was really thinking about it, and judging by his expression he had come to a conclusion.
"Within my understanding and from what I know of you two, I'd say Bruce is smarter."
Clark thought Lex would ask why, but Lex simply said, "No, I'm smarter."
"Why?" Clark asked.
"Do you know how I managed to graduate from both Victor's and Shiller's classes at the same time?"
Clark suddenly registered, right, how did Lex manage to graduate so silently? Didn't his professor also happen to be Healer Rodriguez?
The commotion Bruce made with Shiller was still so fresh in Clark's memory, but there were no rumors when it was Lex's turn.
"How did you do it?" Clark moved in until his face was almost touching Lex's nose, his curiosity piqued.
"Simple," Lex snorted, "In Shiller's class, I researched the physical science technology to disperse dark clouds. In Victor's class, I studied the sociological impact of Gotham seeing sunlight again. There you go, I graduated successfully."
Clark was dumbfounded.
All of a sudden, he shook Lex's hand vigorously, looked him in the eye, and said earnestly.
"Lex Luther is the smartest man in the world!"
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