It sounds like you need to give the Contacts app permission to view your contacts list. Try this:
Settings -> Apps -> Contacts
Tap "Permissions"
Turn on the "Contacts" option
Do the same thing on Settings -> Apps -> Contacts Storage
In order to see Contacts Storage in the list, you may need to change settings to allow you to view system apps. To do so, while within Settings -> Apps, tap the three dots in the upper right, then "Show system."
That should solve the problem.