"Oh." Li Yichen finally understood, but another question immediately occurred to him. "Then do all these rough stones have jadeite inside?"
He pointed at the price tags. "The cheap stones are only three to five hundred, and even the expensive ones are just a few thousand. The jadeite jewelry I saw earlier cost at least a thousand, with the expensive pieces going for tens or even hundreds of thousands. If you work it out that way, aren't we losing money?"
"Heh." Ouyang Hai laughed. "Of course not every rough stone contains jadeite. And even when it does, the quality varies. From the worst Dog-Shit Base jadeite to the finest Dragon Stone Type, the price can differ by a factor of ten million."
"Then how do we know whether the jadeite inside a stone is any good?"
"They say even an immortal can't judge an inch of jade. That means nobody can be completely certain what's inside a rough stone until it's cut open. That's why people call buying stones this way 'stone gambling.'"
Ouyang Hai held nothing back as he continued, "Ordinary people gamble on luck. If you're lucky enough, a single piece of jadeite might make you a millionaire, but you could also lose your shirt. That's what they mean by one cut taking you to heaven and another sending you to hell."
"In that case, aren't the odds of losing higher? If there's no profit in it, why do jewelers still gamble on stones?" Li Yichen was like a curious child now.
"That's true for ordinary people, of course. But people in the trade use accumulated experience and the stone's visible characteristics to improve their odds. That brings the risk down to a level we merchants can accept."
"Oh, so that's how it works." Li Yichen finally understood.