After the business has gradually gotten big, the wife is not so desperately needed and usually the children are grown up, as well--perhaps they were even sent away early to America for studies. This period of the "empty nest" may be particularly hard for the boss wife to adjust to.
等到公司規模漸大，不需要處處倚賴老闆娘時，往往孩子也大了，甚至早就送到美國去當小留學生，這時老闆娘的「空巢期」，就會顯得特別難適應。