Ghostly Guards

"Hi Elaine, can you please get someone to remove the 'ghost' that is in the pot outside of our apartment door before we move in?"

A few minutes later, my housing agent replied: "In Chinese, the ghost must remove by the landlord. I discuss call you later."

Who (or what) is this ghost, you ask? To be honest, I haven't really got a clue either. I only noticed the little red pot of soil outside of my new front door last weekend when a few of my friends pointed it out, saying that I shouldn't touch it and that I'd better get rid of it before moving in this Saturday.

According to local sources, the ghost was hired by my past landlord through a spiritual specialist to guard the apartment, and can only be properly removed by such a specialist (or should I call this person an exorcist!?). Until then, he or she is probably floating around in my empty apartment waiting for me to arrive...aiya!!

I've searched online for hours trying to find out who these ghosts might be, but I just can't seem to get any information on them. Instead, I might just be better off putting up a poster of the door gods Qin and Yuchi on my front door to keep all the evil spirits out in the meantime. Take THAT, you ghost!!