Explanation
When a hard link pointing to a file is created, the link count of the file is increased by one. The link count is the number of hard links that refer to the same inode. The file size, modify timestamp, inode number and permissions are not affected by creating a hard link. References:
* LPI Exam 101 Detailed Objectives, Topic 104: Devices, Linux Filesystems, Filesystem Hierarchy Standard, Weight: 9, Objective 104.5: Create and change hard and symbolic links
* LPI Linux Essentials Study Guide, Chapter 4: The Linux Filesystem, Section 4.3: Hard and Symbolic Links, Page 81