This user seems to have done what I was thinking on proposing you (pruning), which is not the definite solution but seems to be quite near to what you're asking:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=3180631.msg45680078#msg45680078By configure with -prune=550 and -connect=xxx.xxx.xxx to limit bitcoin-qt connect to my local live node with minimum space consumption. Though, it still take up ~700MB space.