Why is it that Luo Yonghao's return to X these days has become so popular? The core reason isn't sentimentality or traffic, but that he is one of the earliest people in China's internet to openly demonstrate that "people can live without following standard answers."

Because in that era, most people's education from a young age was "standard answer education":
Schools teach you obedience, society teaches you smoothness, companies teach you to keep quiet, and few people tell you that a person can actually live according to their own judgment.
In fact, to some extent, China still is like that today.
And Luo Yonghao's most attractive trait back then wasn't entrepreneurship or comedic expression, but his very strong "anti-standardization personality."
He would openly mock authority;
challenge mainstream narratives;
reinterpret the world with his own logic;
say out loud many things that ordinary people "dare not say."
What many people truly liked wasn't what he said, but that he dared to say it.
Because in an environment that long emphasized "correct," "safe," and "sensible," a person who dares to openly express genuine judgments can bring a huge psychological impact.
And Luo Yonghao's greatest value in the early days was that it made many ordinary people realize for the first time:
A person can be imperfect, unsuccessful, or even fail often, but still maintain their subjectivity.
Supporters of his often aren't simply worshiping him, but see in him a part of their own suppressed personality.
So many later memories aren't about the Smartisan phone or live-streaming sales, but about the first time they saw a Chinese internet public figure who dared to "not cooperate" (even if it's just a historical moment).
And the biggest difference between him and many later figures is that he has always remained relatively "safe" in existence.
Many people don't know that he created a website called NiuBo.com early on.
That site gathered many early Chinese internet figures with strong expressive desires and independent thinking tendencies, like Chai Jing, Han Han, and others.
It was actually an early "public expression space" in Chinese internet history.
Later, every era would see similar people emerge.
Today, many accounts on Chinese self-media platforms that have been banned, disappeared, or long marginalized are fundamentally similar to those early figures.
Many of them also oppose a single narrative, trying to interpret reality in their own way—like Hu Chenfeng, Sanli, and others.
But they each have their differences.
At its core, Luo Yonghao is still a "constructive personality."
Although rebellious, he always believes that expression can change reality;
though he mocks the system, he always tries to enter and transform it;
he's not purely a nihilist.
And many later self-media creators often use their platforms more as emotional outlets.
They may not truly believe in change; they are just releasing repression, anxiety, and dissatisfaction for some people.
This is the biggest difference between two generations of internet expression.
The former still carries a shadow of the era of idealism;
the latter is more a product of the emotional age.
So when Luo Yonghao today returns to X, what many truly miss isn't just him as a person.
It's the phase in Chinese internet history when people were still allowed to "speak with their own minds."
Back then, the internet was rough and chaotic, but it still had a very strong sense of "personality."
Today, as content becomes more standardized, platformed, and algorithm-driven, people are starting to nostalgically miss those who "don't look like standard answers."