Filial piety has been the responsibility of children since ancient times. It is very important for us to be kind to our parents, because parents not only give us life, but more importantly, they have the grace to raise us. As the saying goes, "blood is thicker than water" also shows that blood relationship is inseparable. But in fact, blood relationship is more important than parent-child relationship, because we are all emotional, and we will know more and rely more when we get along for a long time. Just like today's biological mothers and foster mothers, some people played the role of foster mothers in ancient times. They are wet nurses.

The career of wet nurse first appeared in the Warring States Period. In ancient times, not everyone could afford a wet nurse. Only children like emperors, princes or nobles can hire wet nurses. Even at that time, there was a special "titty house" in the feudal palace to recruit some young women who had just given birth and had plenty of milk all the year round. They not only feed their children, but also do one thing. Their status is very low, and they are just slaves like the maids at home. In the palace, the wet nurse is even more indispensable, because the concubines in the harem always put their children first. Many concubines in the harem choose to ask a wet nurse to breast-feed their children in order to keep fit after childbirth. At the same time, it takes a lot of time and energy to feed children, and harem women are busy competing for favor, so naturally there is no extra time. There is another duty that seems even more absurd.

However, it is hard to say that ancient wet nurses not only breast-fed their children, but also provided human milk for adults to drink, saying that it was beauty and longevity. Although the wet nurse worked hard, many of them won high honors for it. For example, Emperor Han once named his wet nurse Wang Sheng "Ye Jun". Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty named the wet nurse Gui Lu as "Prince Ping". Some emperors even called the wet nurse the empress dowager. It can be seen that the position of the wet nurse in the heart of the baby can even exceed that of the biological mother. As the second mother of the child, the wet nurse has a great influence on the child because she has lived with the child for a long time. Just like a child's first teacher, the behavior of a wet nurse directly affects a child's character.

Most wet nurses come from poor families and do this job for a living, but no matter how they come from, they all have the feeling of licking calves and should be respected by us. In Qing Dynasty, Zeng Guofan wrote a couplet after the death of the wet nurse: A meal is still known, the situation is guaranteed, and I will be pregnant in October; A thousand dollars is hard to pay back. When it comes to human physics, you will cry for three years. It can be seen that the importance of wet nurses to them also makes us know the hardships of being wet nurses.