The Fourth Sacrifice Quotes

“Three men check into a hotel. They want to share a room, and the receptionist charges them thirty yuan.’ ‘That’s a cheap hotel room,’ he cut in. ‘Depends what kind of hotel,’ she said. ‘Anyway, for the purposes of the riddle it’s thirty yuan and they pay ten yuan each.’ ‘OK.’ ‘So, after they’ve gone up to their room she realises she should only have charged them twenty-five yuan.’ ‘This hotel gets cheaper and cheaper.’ She ignored him. ‘She calls the bellboy, explains the situation, and gives him five yuan to take up to the room to pay them back. On the way up, the bellboy figures it’s going to be hard for these guys to split five yuan three ways. So he decides to give them only three – one each – and keep the remaining two for himself.’ ‘Dishonesty,’ said Li, shaking his head sadly. ‘This is what I have to deal with every day.’ ‘The question is,’ she ignored him again. ‘If each of the three men got one yuan back, that means they only paid nine yuan each. A total of twenty-seven yuan. The bellboy kept two to himself. That makes twenty-nine yuan. What happened to the other yuan?’ Li stopped chewing for a moment as he did a quick calculation. Then he frowned.”
― Peter May, The Fourth Sacrifice