Jia Mei'er's helplessness reflected the plight of Moscow's commoner factory owners, who aspired to grow their businesses but were unable to overcome the barrier of the Nobility.
Even without leveraging their connections, the Nobility could crush any factory owner solely with their vast financial and human resources.
The self-made man Jia Mei'er became increasingly desperate, grateful that he had at least built a decent family business.
"Do you know what your biggest problem is?" Zhu Wencong asked.
"Too poor?" Jia Mei'er clenched his fists tightly, knowing he had no margin for error.
Zhu Wencong shook his head. Jia Mei'er still couldn't see the real issue at hand and maybe never would.
Jia Mei'er had reached a developmental bottleneck, pressured by the Nobility above and by vicious competition among his peers below.
Maintaining the current size of his operation was already quite an achievement, he thought to himself; he was being too hard on himself.
