Gao Yang and Sergei ended their conversation after about half an hour. It's unavoidable, this is at a banquet, and Abdullah and his hosts had been kept outside.
When Abdullah and his group were invited back and saw that Gao Yang and Sergei appeared normal and seemed to have cleared up their misunderstanding, they were genuinely delighted.
Gao Yang did a good job with his team. If Sergei, who could prove he came on behalf of the Russian official side, didn't recognize Gao Yang's status, or worse, if Gao Yang was taken down or even killed by Sergei, the situation would have been very serious.
Neither Abdullah nor Said had any personal vendetta against Gao Yang, so their cooperation with Sergei to trick Gao Yang was not aimed at him personally. From a benefit standpoint, there was no need for it, so it definitely wasn't out of private resentment.
