Her Food Livestream Broke the Galaxy Novel – “Dear Citizen Jiang Qiuqiu, your Star Network account has a remaining balance of 1231.3 Star Coins.” “Hello, your lease is up in one month. Have you forgotten?” “Hello, Miss Qiuqiu. Your nutrient solution subscription will expire in three days. Would you like to renew it now?” “Miss Qiuqiu, your electricity bill—” “Your Star Network usage fee—” “It’s almost the end of the month. Please make your payments on time!” Jiang Qiuqiu’s heart went numb as she read through the messages. ‘What in this world could be more terrifying than transmigrating? Transmigrating and ending up dirt poor.’ In her past life, Jiang Qiuqiu had been a 21st-century food blogger with legions of fans on major video-sharing platforms. While filming a travel vlog, she was in an unfortunate accident and suddenly found herself transported to the interstellar era. However, before she could even marvel at the fact that spaceships, robots, and holographic networks were real—that humanity could truly travel through space, with entire planets for cities—she was overwhelmed by a flood of information from the body’s original owner, who also happened to be named Jiang Qiuqiu.
The Jiang Qiuqiu of the interstellar era was born on a low-level planet within a Federation Tribe. At the age of eight, her parents passed away, and she was sent to an orphanage. Fortunately, at the age of 16, the orphanage arranged for her to undergo a genetic test. Jiang Qiuqiu was found to possess B+ Level spiritual power, which luckily secured her an acceptance letter to a school on the Federal Capital Star. However, just a few days after starting, she was expelled for offending someone rich and powerful. Unwilling to return to her old life after losing her spot at the school, Jiang Qiuqiu survived by claiming Federation aid and working odd jobs. She relentlessly filed complaints with the school, hoping for a fair judgment, but every letter she sent might as well have been dropped into the ocean. By the time Jiang Qiuqiu turned eighteen, her complaints had still gone unanswered.
The Federation Empire only provided aid to minors. Without that support, her meager wages were nowhere near enough to cover the cost of living on the Capital Star. And so, seeing nothing but a bleak future ahead, the original Jiang Qiuqiu took her own life in despair on her eighteenth birthday. On that same day, the Jiang Qiuqiu from the 21st century arrived. Once, Jiang Qiuqiu had been a wealthy young woman with an eight-figure bank balance. Now, she was a broke girl in the interstellar age, about to go bankrupt by the end of the month. There was no time to wallow in self-pity. From the original owner’s memories, Jiang Qiuqiu learned that failing to pay your bills was a very serious offense in the Federation. If you didn’t pay on time, you could be sent to a low-level planet to work in the mines or clean toilets in hazardous environments to pay off your debt! … ‘That can’t be allowed to happen!’ She quickly calculated how much she owed at the end of the month.
The bills for electricity, water, and Nutrient Liquid came to around 1,100 Star Coins. She had enough in her account to cover that, but once this month was over, next month’s expenses—rent, internet, and other miscellaneous fees—would total a staggering 2,800 Star Coins. There was no way she could afford that. In the interstellar era, unskilled labor from someone without a degree, like the body’s previous owner, didn’t pay well. Working herself to the bone for a whole month would only earn her around 1,300 Star Coins. That wasn’t nearly enough. She had to do something, or her second chance at life would end with her working herself to death in the mines. According to the original owner’s memories, the live streaming industry was booming in this era. ‘Maybe I can go back to my old trade,’ she mused. ‘Could I support myself by live streaming about food?’ No sooner said than done. Jiang Qiuqiu opened the Star Network and began searching for information on food live streaming. … In this era, humanity flourished.
The Federation reigned supreme with a population of roughly four hundred billion. Everyone shared a single Star Network, and with so many people surfing the web, the Federation’s livestreaming industry was exceptionally prosperous. With a newfound strength, she switched her screen to the Star Network’s livestreaming section and navigated to the Food category—a corner of the web the body’s previous owner had never once visited. Countless livestream channels popped up. She picked a few from the rankings to check out; their popularity was sky-high. The most-watched channel had several hundred million viewers! Hundreds of millions of actual, living people! Moreover, she discovered that livestreams in this era even had a virtual tasting feature. (During a broadcast, a streamer could activate a fully immersive virtual kitchen, allowing viewers to smell the food. They could also offer a paid virtual tasting service, where fans paid a certain fee to sample the streamer’s dishes.) Jiang Qiuqiu couldn’t see the specific number of virtual tastings, but just looking at the dense barrage of comments, the record-breaking number of viewers, and the crowd of people practically crying out to be fed— ‘That’s a river of interstellar coins just waiting to flow in!’ Jiang Qiuqiu decided on the spot: she would use her nimble hands and exquisite skills to support herself in this new era! She was going to become a streamer! From the moment she decided to start streaming, Jiang Qiuqiu was rubbing her hands together in anticipation. ‘Streaming… first, equipment.
Let’s check the interstellar Taotao website…’ Then she discovered that even the worst food livestreaming setup cost nearly five figures. This was far beyond what the current Jiang Qiuqiu could afford. But there was more than one way forward. If she couldn’t afford to buy, she could rent one on the Star Network. After shopping around, Jiang Qiuqiu rented a low-end food livestreaming setup for 300 Star Coins a month. Now that she had the equipment, she decided to first research the various types of produce available in the interstellar era so she could plan a menu. The moment she searched for the vegetable category, Jiang Qiuqiu’s soft, cherubic face went completely blank. “!!!” ‘Not only was the variety scarce, but the prices were also absurdly high.’ ‘Every single vegetable is sold by the piece; just making one dish would bankrupt me on the spot! It’s over. Is my streaming career going to die before it even starts, all because I’m poor?!’ Her small, round eyes wide, she glanced at the other types of ingredients. ‘Expensive. Everything is so expensive. Anything that grows from the ground is expensive!’ ‘Wait! I think I found an anomaly! The meat and eggs here are actually really cheap.’ ‘Could it be because farming is more difficult than raising livestock?’ ‘Whatever. Since meat is cheaper—’ ‘—then the first dish for my stream will be fried meat cutlets.’ Every product on Taotao Fresh came with clear pictures and videos. Jiang Qiuqiu carefully examined the pictures, marbling, and mouthfeel descriptions for these meats, then purchased a few types that seemed to have a texture most similar to pork.
It couldn’t be helped. In a different era, the names of these meats had all changed. Jiang Qiuqiu wasn’t sure if her old cooking methods would work on these new ingredients, or if she could make them taste just as delicious. But it didn’t matter. She had faith in her own skills. After tinkering in the kitchen for over an hour, Jiang Qiuqiu tentatively decided on the first item for her stream’s menu: Fried Gugu Meat Cutlets. Now all the preparations were complete; she just had to wait for the livestreaming equipment to arrive. Waiting was always agonizing. Jiang Qiuqiu forced herself to calm down and continued browsing information on the Star Network, trying to fill the gaps in her knowledge about this world.
Fortunately, interstellar delivery was ridiculously fast. That very evening, Jiang Qiuqiu received her low-end livestreaming equipment and ingredients. The time was the year 5355 of the Federation calendar. A food streamer named Jiang Jiujiu had just burst onto the scene on the Federation’s livestreaming network! … Your stream has been approved. Please give your channel a name. A channel’s name is its face. She was streaming for her life, and for the sake of her life, she couldn’t be careless with the name! Jiang Qiuqiu took a deep breath and slowly typed the phrase in her head onto the screen.