Read The Money Is Green for Free Online

of paradise flitted from tree to tree. From the off-white-paneled walls and crown molding with the gold-gilded trim to the marble floors with individual Persian rugs under each rectangular table, it all smelled of money.
    Without his asking, he was served a small dish of Black Sea sturgeon caviar with hard-boiled quail eggs and a cup of cream of mushroom soup with truffle oil. Out of curiosity, he tasted the caviar and found it rather good. The room was half-occupied with mostly Chinese men, a small number of Europeans and Americans amongst them, but even so, the noise coming from the staff and customers was quiet and muted except for an occasional clinking of glassware.
    He heard a small commotion coming from his left and looked up to see Madam Chen striding purposefully through the restaurant. She wore a light blue business suit with a frilly white blouse and black pumps. The restaurant staff were frozen in place and every one ofthem bowed as she walked by. Many of the diners looked up from their meals and whispered to each other.
    Mei held out her hand to shake before sitting next to Jason. A waiter immediately appeared to open her white cloth napkin and place it over her lap while another one poured her a glass of champagne. “I hope I didn’t keep you waiting long,” she said, smiling. “I was meeting with David Wilson. He owns this hotel, along with two dozen others around China.” She leaned forward and whispered as though telling him a highly regarded secret. “He’s a very smart and very rich man. He might be useful to us someday.”
    Jason nodded. “I’ve heard of him, but he’s a hotel developer. Why would he be useful to us?”
    “Be patient, Jason. I’ll let you know what he can do in due time. So,” she set her glass down and picked up a menu, “you got to look at our solar panel production facility.” She studied his face for a second. “What did you think of it?”
    “It’s amazing. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a manufacturing facility so large. As much as is going on, I’m in awe of how many solar panels that place produces in a day.”
    She smiled again and snapped her fingers without looking away from him. A waiter immediately appeared. “Let me order for us, Jason. I’ll give you a taste of Shanghai cuisine.” She spoke in rapid fire for thirty seconds as the waiter scribbled furiously on a small pad. When she stopped, he nodded, picked up their menus, and headed for the kitchen.
    Seeing the worried look on Jason’s face, she leaned over and patted his hand. “Don’t worry, I only ordered two exotic dishes—some eel and frog legs in a white wine sauce. The rest is fairly traditional.” She leaned back in her chair. “You can see that, because of the size of the plant and the amount we produce, we need to sell a large amount of product in a short time. That’s why the Copper Mountain project is so vital to me. Right behind that project is the Antelope Valley project in the western Mojave Desert. That projectwill be twice as large and will cost around one point three billion, of which eight hundred million will be used to buy solar panels.”
    A mixed green salad was placed in front of him and Jason cautiously picked up a fork and tried it. This is a little on the tart side, he thought, but still pretty good.
    “That’s a seaweed salad with sesame seeds,” Mei pointed out. “It’s very good for you.”
    Jason raised his eyebrows. “It tastes very good. What more should I be doing to help out?” he asked between bites. “I’m confident we will win the Copper Mountain bid, and that will take all the solar panels you can make in a year and then some.” He raised up his hand. “Oh, I meant to ask you something. After I was finished talking to Brian Thompson at Inter-Power about the Power Purchase Agreement for Copper Mountain, I got to thinking about the land the solar farm is supposed to go on. Inter-Power doesn’t own it because it’s Bureau of Land Management land,