Lex took Clark on a tour of the new manor—or rather, they toured it together, because Lex himself had not seen every room inside before buying the estate.
Clark found this astonishing. He truly could not understand how someone could buy a house without thoroughly looking around it first.
"Do you know how many rooms there are?" Lex said helplessly. "There are roughly 160 living rooms."
Clark's eyes widened in shock. It was hard for him to imagine a house with 160 rooms.
Lex stopped and looked him over. "I think you may have the wrong idea about this estate. Didn't you see it when you flew up earlier?"
"See what?"
"The entire estate."
"I only saw this house. Wait." Clark turned to look toward the gates. "Don't tell me that entire cluster of buildings I saw was your house."
"Did you think I would share a rental with someone else?"
Clark took off again and flew out through the gates. This time, he flew higher and saw the full view of the mountainside estate.
Of course, there was more than just the manor's main hall. From high to low, roughly seven buildings were scattered across the slope, along with two small gardens and one large one, three plazas of varying sizes, a golf course, and many smaller structures that Clark guessed might be guard booths.
When Clark arrived, Lex had driven down to pick him up. They had followed the winding mountain road all the way up, first passing through the estate gates. Beyond them was the central plaza, with a decorative sculpture fountain. On either side stood flower-lined colonnades supported by Roman pillars, leading toward the rear of the main hall.
Next came the tall manor hall, resembling the White House—Clark could think of no better comparison. He