122: Chapter 122 Zhang Jing, who can be considered the protagonist

Su Ye picked up a small cookie from the table and ate it. It had a rich milky flavor, was crispy, and tasted good: "I am naturally confident in Director Zhang's abilities."

Su Ye changed the subject: "However, Director Zhang, please don't mind me asking, but I just saw you reading a report in German?"

After a moment of surprise, Zhang Jing smiled and answered Su Ye's question, satisfying his curiosity: "This is an academic paper sent to me by my mentor regarding the legal field in Germany. I find it quite interesting."

Hearing this, Su Ye curiously followed up: "Director Zhang knows German?"

Zhang Jing took off the glasses on his nose bridge, gently wiped them with a cloth, and said: "I know five languages: English, French, German, Japanese, and Korean. When I was young, I studied abroad in England, France, and Germany for a time. As for Japanese and Korean, I taught myself after I started working."

Hearing Zhang Jing's words, Su Ye became even more curious. One must know that for an ordinary person, knowing three foreign languages would be considered impressive, but Zhang Jing not only knew five, he had also studied abroad in three different countries; this was a truly illustrious resume.

Su Ye glanced at his watch; it was still early, so he decided to satisfy his curiosity first: "I wonder if Director Zhang would be interested in telling me some interesting stories about all this?"

Zhang Jing had no objections; building good relationships with high-value clients was part of his job: "I first went to study abroad in the UK at the age of 18, attending a branch of the International Butler Academy. I don't mind Chairman Su laughing at me, but my family's financial situation wasn't good. They had to scrape everything together to send me abroad, so when I heard that being a butler paid very well, I went for it."

"Later, after graduating from the International Butler Academy, I felt that I was more interested in finance and believed that finance could make more money, so I went to the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania to study finance, with a minor in United States law. Later, I was attracted by the scenery of Germany, so I went to Heidelberg to study law."

Saying this, Zhang Jing spread his hands: "Although I became self-sufficient after establishing myself in London, I didn't start working until after I was 27. I chose the headhunting industry and subsequently spent 15 years getting to where I am now."

Listening to Zhang Jing's legendary story, Su Ye was speechless for a moment. He wanted to open up Zhang Jing's brain to see how much of it had been developed; how could a person be this smart?

Afterward, Su Ye inadvertently organized the abilities Zhang Jing possessed: five foreign languages, proficiency in law, finance, and management; he was a graduate of the most famous International Butler Academy and had fifteen years of cross-border headhunting experience. His connections, communication, and interpersonal skills were undoubtedly formidable.

Any one of these skills alone would qualify someone as a talent, let alone when they were all combined. Honestly, Su Ye felt that spending 15 years to become the Southern Region Director of the Greater Xia District was a blemish on Zhang Jing's record.

However, why did Su Ye increasingly feel that Zhang Jing was the perfect candidate for the CEO of his Family Office?

He possessed all the necessary elements for a Family Office CEO, and far exceeded them.

Although Su Ye thought this way, he still decided to look at other aspects.

"Director Zhang's experience can truly be called legendary. However, I'm curious to ask, since Director Zhang knows finance and law, have you had any practical cases over all these years?"

Zhang Jing was stunned by Su Ye's question, then thought for a moment and said with a smile: "I can't tell you about things that are too recent. I will blur out the names, so I'll just tell you a story about something that happened shortly after I entered the industry."

"Come to think of it, this was also at the request of a friend."

Su Ye didn't push, but instead made a gesture of invitation.

At this moment, the waiter happened to bring the coffee over. Zhang Jing stood up, smiled and said "Thank you," then naturally placed Su Ye's coffee in front of him, in a position where it was very convenient for his right hand to reach.

After placing it for Su Ye, he took his own coffee, sat down, took a sip, and continued with a look of reminiscence: "At that time, there was an old gentleman named Muller, whose family was in the canned food export business. They had three processing plants in Bavaria."

"In 2013, the EU suddenly introduced a new food labeling law, requiring the origin of all ingredients to be labeled. Because their sauerkraut cans used cabbage from Poland and the labels weren't fully corrected, they were reported by a competitor to the EU Market Supervision Bureau, facing a 200,000 Euro fine and the potential revocation of their export license."

Su Ye raised an eyebrow: "Wouldn't it be fine to just find a local lawyer to handle this?"

Zhang Jing smiled and said: "The problem is that the old gentleman's son works in investment banking in Frankfurt and insisted on appealing through legal channels, saying it could delay things for at least 18 months."

"But when I went to the factory to look, I found that their sauerkraut fermentation process was ancestral, and half of the veteran workers were immigrants from Turkey. Once production stopped, these people would have to go back to their hometowns—at that time, the exchange rate of the Euro against the Lira was falling sharply, and if they went back, they wouldn't even be able to keep their houses."

Saying this, Zhang Jing's eyes held a strange expression: "I checked Article 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and found that in the competitor's report, they had deliberately concealed the fact that they also used Polish ingredients. But just relying on this to fight the lawsuit would take at least two years, and the factory couldn't afford to wait."

Su Ye was already listening intently, his breathing slowing by half a beat.

"So you used another method?"

Zhang Jing took out a black leather notebook, opened his fountain pen, and drew a formula on it: "I calculated an economic account."

"The shelf fee for the Muller family's canned goods in French supermarkets was 50,000 Euros per month. Once taken off the shelves, it would cost at least 300,000 Euros to re-enter the market. And the 200,000 Euro fine, while seemingly higher than the appeal costs, was actually a cost-effective deal—provided that the regulatory bureau could be persuaded to show leniency."

He paused, his voice deepening: "I found a document from the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture and discovered they were promoting a 'Small and Medium Enterprise Compliance Assistance Program.' As long as a company could prove it had rectified the issues and cooperated in formulating industry standards, it could reduce the fine by 60%. But there was a legal trap here: the rectification plan had to be reviewed by the European Commission, and the Muller family's lawyer said that according to the process, it would take at least three months."

"Later, I used Chinese supply chain management experience."

A flash of pride for his past success shone in Zhang Jing's eyes: "I had the old gentleman's factory add electronic tags to every batch of sauerkraut overnight. By scanning the code, one could see the entire logistics record from the Polish vegetable fields to the German factory. I also invited a food science professor from the University of Cologne to provide an endorsement, proving their process met the 'traditional specialty' criteria—which happened to qualify for the EU's 'Geographical Indication Protection' policy."

Zhang Jing continued to drink his coffee: "More importantly, I found out that the competitor who reported them had actually secretly used the Muller family's fermentation strain, which counts as infringement under the 'German Act Against Unfair Competition.' I didn't file a lawsuit directly, but instead sent the evidence to their board of directors—either withdraw the report, or wait for both a strain patent lawsuit and an antitrust investigation to come knocking."

Su Ye's fingertips tapped lightly on the table: "How much was the fine reduced in the end?"

"Not a single cent was fined."

"They not only waived the fine but also promoted the Muller family's electronic tags as an industry case study. The old gentleman's son later told me that this wave of free publicity alone caused their canned goods sales in Belgium to rise by 40%."

He suddenly smiled: "What's even more interesting is that those Turkish workers pooled their money to send me a plaque, written in German: 'Humanity in the Law'—it's still hanging on the wall of my Hong Kong office now."

After hearing Zhang Jing's story, Su Ye couldn't help but exclaim in his heart: if the world were a workplace novel, then Zhang Jing would absolutely be the male protagonist.