Chapter 16 The Frugal Reborn Financial Savior

What do you want to do?

“I’m going to do something good,” Lilith told him excitedly, her grey-green eyes shining, “to revive a dying bank.”

Heinrich was utterly baffled by Lilith's riddle. He tried to imagine a company by following her thought process in the same way he viewed a person.

From a financial health perspective, a company's cash flow is as vital as blood in a human body. If the cash flow breaks down and the company becomes insolvent, it will go bankrupt. Conversely, to save a company, a large influx of funds is needed to pay off all its debts, restore healthy cash flow, and allow the company to resume normal operations.

This came at a high price. Lilith was not one to do charity out of pity. She had only one goal—to acquire the existing bank's operating license by assuming debt, thus achieving a backdoor listing.

This reminded Heinrich of how his ancestors had accumulated their wealth. Initially, his family was just an obscure family of blacksmiths in the Mainz region, earning their first fortune through trade with mercenaries by improving the combat performance of weapons and equipment.

However, everyone who has become wealthy through business knows that it is impossible to achieve upward social mobility through hard work alone. The Schmidl family's true rise to prominence began with the purchase of their first share of the mine's stock—they officially transformed from artisans serving the count into owners of the iron ore mine.

Although the lords nominally held full control over the mining rights, underground operations required enormous capital and advanced technology, often necessitating joint ventures in the early stages of projects. Investing by purchasing shares allowed shareholders to gain influence over the project and receive dividends, successfully transforming them from artisans into capitalists. Later, the count, bogged down in war, gradually became insolvent and was forced to sell more mining shares at bargain prices, enabling the Schmidl family to become the de facto owners of the mines through share acquisitions.

What Lilith is about to do is acquire a bank on the verge of bankruptcy, help them restructure all their debts, bring them back to life, and then naturally inherit their existing operating licenses, inject her own capital into the shell, change it to a new name, and re-emerge as Lilith's bank.

When Heinrich finally understood everything, he found Lilith smiling as she took out several Grosso silver coins and handed them to the bewildered little girl.

“I’ll take all of these rabbits.” Lilith turned around and made a face at Heinrich. “We’re having a rabbit feast tonight.”

Upon returning home, Lilith immediately began assigning new tasks. Her first task was to have Tata investigate the small banks in the market that were mired in debt due to the recent spate of shipwrecks. At that very moment, the managers of these banks were frantically hawking their wares in the market, begging investors for new funds to help them escape their predicament.

Rome wasn't built in a day, and similarly, a shipwreck usually isn't enough to bankrupt a bank with healthy cash flow and strong risk control; it merely serves as a trigger to uncover long-standing bad debts. Therefore, the managers of these bankrupt banks often don't receive timely assistance from benevolent individuals, but rather a cold and gloomy prison for debtors. Who, except for those with even greater and more insatiable appetites, would want to help these failed lenders cursed to hell?

The maritime republic relied on the sea for its continuous wealth, but it also had to endure the relentless waves and pirate raids, making company failures and bankruptcies commonplace. Before the fall of Constantinople, Venice boasted hundreds of banks of varying sizes. With sea routes abruptly cut off, countless merchants killed in war, and a financial crisis on the verge of erupting, the commodity economy suffered its greatest blow since the end of the Black Death. Nearly half of the city's banks declared bankruptcy, and even the noble families who had poured vast sums of money into Constantinople suffered heavy losses.

From that point on, the Knarro family began its downward spiral. The former head of the family, burdened by the drastic decline in the family's assets, died in despair. The new head of the family was also powerless to reverse the family's fate, and could only rely on Elena, who was still traveling, to keep the family business afloat.

However, the decline of the family and their inability to care for the women gave Lilith an opportunity to rise to prominence and develop her own career.

While the older generation of men gathered at a banquet, clinking glasses and reminiscing about their past glories, Lilith received offers from three banks. She took Heinrich and Cecilia to visit them one by one, examining their debts, checking their cash flow, auditing their inventory, and calculating their gains and losses.

Sherlock had a wife, children, and elderly parents to care for, and he would leave every day at a set time. Lilith couldn't do anything about it, so she had to force the apprentice accountant Heinrich, who had no personal freedom, to work overtime to help her with the accounts. However, Lilith herself wasn't idle either. Several times she worked so late that she collapsed at her desk, only to get up and continue working after a short nap. The market was constantly changing, and missing suitable acquisition opportunities and prices due to inefficiency would be a huge loss, so she dared not stop for a moment.

Three days later, Lilith, sporting thick dark circles under her eyes, successfully bought the operating rights and a mountain of debt from a bank on the verge of bankruptcy for 1,000 Ducati in cash.

The money used for the acquisition was injected into the company's assets as capital for repayment. The seller's Jewish banker did not receive a single penny in cash, but was able to clear his debts after the transaction and transfer the responsibility for repaying all the debts to this ambitious red-haired young widow.

Surrounded by servants, Lilith, dressed in her favorite mourning clothes and beaming, entered the money changers' guild. The Jewish seller, wearing a faded coarse cloth robe, followed cautiously behind Lilith, his leather briefcase containing a thick stack of account documents.

"Good morning." Lilith gave the steward at the guild counter a confident smile. "It's me again, Liliana Schmidl. Long time no see."

The man in charge glanced at the widow in front of him wearing a black veil and noticed that Lilith was followed by a guild member who had been registered for many years.

“I am here today to handle the formalities related to the acquisition of Mr. Solomon Goldstein’s bank.”

Venice in April was bathed in sunshine, and even indoors it was warm and cozy. Lilith took out a small black folding fan from her handbag and gracefully fanned herself.

"I think I made it very clear last time that our guild cannot accept female members..."

“Mr. Goldstein has a total of 1,500 ducats in debt in his bank account,” Lilith ignored the objection and continued, “some of which are more than six months overdue, including taxes and guild penalties for late payment. Mr. Goldstein has sold almost all of his company and personal assets, but he is still unable to pay these debts.”

The Jewish banker, overwhelmed by debt, took out the bound company accounts from his briefcase and handed them to the guild steward.

The steward looked at the smiling Lilith with a hint of skepticism, then began to carefully read the accounts and transaction records presented by Goldstein. He remembered the old man. About a week earlier, on the very day he announced Lilith's failed induction attempt, Solomon Goldstein had also visited the guild to submit an application for a deferred tax payment.

"After the acquisition is completed, I will, in the name of the new bank manager, carry out bankruptcy reorganization on the debt. First, I will immediately pay off the bank's debts, then reorganize customer deposits and bills, and negotiate with creditors on the repayment method for the relevant debts."

What was the transaction price?

"1000 Ducate".

"This is still not enough to pay off all of Goldstein Bank's overdue debts."

“That’s right, but the fact is that if you don’t allow me, a kind widow, to acquire this poor, bankrupt bank, you won’t get a single penny.”

The man in charge was speechless. Lilith had offered him a condition he couldn't refuse. When it came to their own absolute interests, man or woman, Christian or pagan, it all seemed irrelevant.

“…I can issue you a temporary transfer permit today so you can help Mr. Goldstein pay off his debts. However, Mr. Goldstein is a pagan, and his business is not subject to religious law, but you, as a Christian, need to meet the Church's compliance requirements after acquiring the bank. Without the bishop's special approval, we cannot help you obtain a long-term permit…”

The person in charge led Lilith and her group to the conference room at the back to continue the procedures. Heinrich finally caught a glimpse of Lilith's expression beneath the black veil. Her beautiful green eyes shone brightly, and the smile on her lips was almost impossible to suppress.

Although this acquisition cost her a fortune, almost wiping out her entire dowry, she finally took the first step in legitimizing her business, giving her an additional respected and recognized identity beyond being the illegitimate daughter of the Knarro family and the widow of the Schmidl family—a female banker recognized by the money exchange guild.

Lilith wasn't worried about the bishop's approval. The current bishop of Venice, Daluca, was formerly the family priest of the Knarök family, and the priest who officiated at Heinrich's funeral was also his apprentice. Daluca wasn't a native of Venice; he was appointed by the Pope and sent there, so he was quite accommodating to these mutually supportive noble families. Lilith, whose child had been baptized by his appointed apprentice and whom he had watched grow up, was able to be sent to the best convent school as an illegitimate child, thanks to the bishop's support.

However, when Lilith excitedly went to St. Mark's Cathedral to visit the bishop with gifts, the bishop casually rejected her.

"God created Adam first, then Eve. Submission and silence are virtues of women. My child, because I have watched you grow up, I cannot allow you to do such evil deeds that violate God's law."

The bald bishop, dressed in a pure white robe and wearing a pure gold necklace, sat in a gilded chair, toying with the golden cross that Lilith had given him.

“But I am different from those heretics. I will never charge interest and will never violate any provision of canon law…”

“We all know what kind of shady business money changers do behind the scenes, so you don’t need to play games with me.”

The bishop sighed, put the crucifix back in the box, and spoke to her earnestly.

"Moreover, your background is not honorable. You are not the legitimate daughter of the Knaror family, nor a married woman of the Schmidl family, nor have you ever had children or become a mother, nor are you a nun who has dedicated her life to the Lord. So for whom do you guard your wealth? For whom do you spend your money? How can I believe that you are not tempted by Satan and are eager to fall into the abyss of greed?"

Lilith stood silently opposite the bishop, her head bowed. She knew that his erudite doctrinal pronouncements were merely a hypocritical facade; the real issue was that he wasn't interested in the paltry sums she had offered. However, she had already emptied her savings on the acquisition, and continuing to bribe the Vatican would require pushing herself into a net debt trap. This was hardly a good starting point for a newly established bank.

After the conversation, Lilith walked out of the church through a side door, heartbroken. After a whole day of turmoil, the sky over St. Mark's Square had turned from a clear azure to a deep crimson. Once again, Lilith sat helplessly on a bench by the square, staring blankly at the bells tolling for evening prayers. Suddenly, she clutched the emerald necklace around her neck.

Heinrich was filled with mixed emotions. He certainly didn't want Lilith to sell the gifts he had given her, but given his current status and situation, there was no other way he could help her—until he saw a familiar figure sneaking into the cathedral through the most inconspicuous back door. It was the blond, curly-haired pretty boy he and Lilith had seen in Castro's red-light district.

"lady."

This time, it was Heinrich who called out to Lilith, who was lost in thought.

"Your chance has come again."

A note from the author:

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More updates tomorrow!