absurd

I have to say episodes 22-23 gave me an enormous amount of respect for Jiang Nanzheng. She handled the quota withdrawal like man. 10 times better than Gao Liang did. She refused when her sergeant tried to give it up, said that she can't accept it if she takes it away from someone. And then got into academy all on her own, without any help, after telling her dad, in no uncertain terms, that she would not accept his help. No false modesty or sob stories preceding. She is, I think, the most grown up out the 3 of the leads.
I feel sad seeing the way the reason for Gu Yiye to marry A Xiu is being set up. I am sure, as it is a drama, we will be shown a happy ending between them. But, imho, marriages out of sense of duty are set up for failure: years ahead people start blaming their partner for keeping them away from what they wanted and it never ends well. I don't actually care much at this point about JNZ and GYY being together, but A Xiu and Gu Yiye? Sorry, I don't see that (he called himself a sacrifice for gods sake). Maybe the drama will show me their relationship development and how it will work out, but so far the only thing I can feel for both of them is sad.
PS: I'm starting to feel sorry for Huang Jingyi, honestly. The writers managed to give him a character, that no one, except for people who are already his fans, will like. They created a perfect set up for people to get into academy on their own merit, but in the end still made GL to go the nepotism route. It's like they are doing it on purpose.. Would it not have been better to show how much work he put in reading all those books, by letting him sit through examination? Maybe they wanted it to be historically accurate (about candidates having to finish high school), but even if he got to go through exam as an exception or through favor, it would have still have been 10 times better than him getting accepted into an elite training program because "someone recommended him"

Sorry, but about JNZ, I have to disagree with you on practically everything. How can she be a love rival to A Xiu when neither Gu Yiye, nor A Xiu actually have any feelings for each other? Yes, I can see that it's setting up that they will be together, but right now the only reason GYY is doing this is his sense of duty. He even called himself a sacrifice. That's as far from love as you can get.
And JNZ, unlike GL, actually got to academy on her own merit, passing the exam. 3d out of everyone, without any help.
It is of course your right to dislike her :) But I feel like it's a little unfounded.

I am already ffw some of them tbh. It's not even just the military. Imagime you are doing a job interview. One candidate has experience, education and shows a lot of potential. And the other one is ok, kind of average, he'll do fine, but nothing special about him. But, you see, if you don't take the second guy, he might not get another job, while the first one is so great, he'll be off the market in no time. And what do you do? Choose a guy with the sob story? No . Because no one will do that. At most they'll offer him some lower position if they have it.

Even without the academy situation in episode 21, it's like he always needs to one up or have what Gu Yiye has. Even something as simple as ginger from A-Xiu, he was all "why does he get it and I don't". That's so petty! And people just let it slide. Glad A-Xiu told him off.
And then the conversation with Qin Hanyong about academy. First we go again with the sob story. And then we go the manipulative route of "he should go, it's a two people thing". It isn't. It's about who is more promising as an officer material. Gu Yiye was working his ass off training, while Gao Liang was having a vacation with division commander and now he thinks that the only reason GYY should go is JNZ? What. And then the phrase. "Why do I have to give up everything for Gu Yiye?" The hell?! What exactly did he have to give up? Because if he's talking about JNZ, it's not his decision. She. Told. Him. NO. Four times. And the rest of his claims were just as petty as the ginger thing. The ashes, really? GYY and Zhang Fei were actually close, he died protecting him! What does GL has to do with it?
Yesterday when I was watching it, I was disappointed, but now that I had time to stew in it, I'm just so angry. They are trying, practically pushing it down my throat to present Gao Liang as this great and self sacrificing person and all the while, most of his actions tell a completely different story. Jealousy, pettiness and trying to manipulate others to get him things again and again. It's like the writer hated the character, seriously.

I tried, I really did try to look at Gao Liang objectively and see his side of things (yes I am that annoying person that always tries to see both sides and not judge). But it's like the writer wants me to dislike him. All of his actions make him look so manipulative and petty, as if he's always looking at what others have and feels like he deserves it more. Why is he written like this? He's one of the leads! I'll put specifics under the spoiler.

Does it depend on where you are? Because for me all episodes except the first 2 have the vip marker

I know, right?! I was really liking that GL finally got some character development and we had so much progress. And then the sob story came out. Again. And it was so manipulative, the way he first went on and on about not being able to get education and then went all martyr with "Gu Yiye going is a two person thing". Wtf. Why is he bringing JNZ into it? Gu Yiye was chosen because he deserves it for his efforts and achievements! Why the hell is the army making those decisions based on personal matters? Isn't it supposed to be like a job interview? I really don't understand what the writer was thinking, the whole situation looks horrible and it's presented as if they are doing the right thing.

But also. I would like if Gao Liang and Gu Yiye both go to academy. I do feel sorry for Gao Liang, I know he was looking forward to getting education and possible promotion. But sorry is not the reason one should take away the chance from someone more deserving of it. Gu Yiye is an officer material, the best from their division. Taking away his chance of promotion just because Gao Liang will be sad is unfair and also unprofessional. I really hope they'll solve this in a way that will allow both of them to go.
I also kind of don't understand what's going on with Gu Yiye and Nanzheng. She supposedly "broke up" with him, but it's not like there was anything going on but writing letters. And they are meeting up again. So did she unbreakup with him? I'm lost, honestly.
Those last several episodes were really amazing in terms of character and relationship development, but then it's like two steps forward, one step back. Stop making GL use his sob story every time he doesn't get something, he needs to get things on his own merit, otherwise does he really deserve them? And either let JNZ and GYY move on, or get them in a relationship, I thought it was finally over and now it seems like here we go again.

Dear Drama, please let me stop crying. I really can't anymore.

About the timeline. I think he and NMC returned after like two weeks of being declared missing in action and everyone was ready to hold a funeral. It's just that NMC didn't need as much recovery time (because he didn't fall from the cliff), so he returned with the rest of his troop, while GL stayed in the field hospital. And JNZ was just busy and only found out he returned after 6 months.
The falling off the cliff part was probably the only thing in that episode that made me smile? everything else was so intense. I was like xianxia/wuxia much? Those guys at last have magic that saves them, what is Gao Liang? A Disney princess? LOL

I also liked his internal monologue about JNZ actually. It made me think that everything that he did to chase her was at last, without malice towards GGY and her relationship. It makes him look even more naïve and lacking in common sense, but alas, nothing to do here, but wait.
The scene where Zhang Fei told him off for interfering, I was like Duuude, finally someone says it.

The part where GYY said there were 102 of them and then you can barely count ten people. I started crying all over again.

At this point I give up trying to understand and just accept that army is corrupted and no one pays attention to his actions as long as they don't hurt them. The less I see of the guy the better, hopefully after the time skip his character will be too old, to get much screen time.

I did read Camus, but only The Stranger and that was a long time ago, I don't remember anything, except that I liked it LOL
Pure hearted idealistic characters are great, as long as their purity and naivete doesn't cost other people. And Gao Liang's lack of common sense does exactly that sometimes. While GYY can take a more practical approach, without compromising his morals. I think that's what makes him a great officer material, not just a good soldier.

16-17 were not so good for GL, but 18-19 definitely made an improvement. Finally some GL character development and no Zheng Yuan (or barely), best episodes so far

Sorry, I guess, I misinterpreted your comment. GL does improve in the recent episodes, so I think it's looking up now. But before it was frustrating to watch. I'm kind of used to somewhat dumb heroes, after watching so much shounen anime (seriously, it's like all leading characters in shounen are dumb), but they usually shine in other ways, thereas here the writers really don't treat his character seriously for a long time and up until now only succeeded in making him stand out when he's very annoying. And all the while the drama has all but made a banner telling me that I should like GL, because, you see, he's just that great. Imo, it's bad filmmaking to try and tell your audience what they should think about the character and that's what probably frustrated me the most. People like or relate to different characters and different opinions make discussions more interesting.

Wow, the last 4 episodes were amazing. I couldn't take my eyes from the screen and and was bawling non stop, but also couldn't get enough. Finally there's some great character development for Gao Liang and a little insight into his behavior previously. But the the thing that just killed me was Xiao Zhan's acting. I cried with him and felt his pain. That scene was just on another level, it broke my heart. I hope we will finally see the friendship between GYY and GL that was promised in the synopsis, I feel like now it would really work.
Also everything was so dynamic and tense, I think my neck hurts now, from trying to borrow a hole in the screen with my eyes.

How is it wrong to base your opinion on what character is doing? It's not like people project their opinion on the actor, that would be wrong I agree. But if we're only talking about the character, so far, the way Gao Liang is written is kind of inconsistent with his role as a male lead and someone who reforms Chinese army. We're almost half way through the drama and I've seen no character development or growth.

That's the thing right? Why is he written so badly? Even if he was intended to be sml at first (which, it looks like that changed pretty early in production) why is he so useless? The only thing they had to do was to give him some character development and at least one redeeming quality. And I wouldn't have cared that he's supposedly the lead and Gu Yiye isn't, but he's just a clown with no common sense. That's so annoying

That part, about promotion was just horrible. How is he supposedly such a honorable guy, but then goes and does something like that. He's like a child, that doesn't understand even simple concepts. Or is he using Zheng Yuan as an example? You know, like ZY has made GL a civil servant instead of punishing him, so now he thinks it's ok to use connections, again like a child using his dad as an example lol